How “It Is Finished” Can Radically Change Your New Year!
By Larry Stockstill
God finishes everything He starts. He finished creation before He made man. He finished redemption on the cross before He created the church. Here’s how this truth can radically change your new year.
Before you can start, you have to finish.
I have a book I have not finished. I have ideas for new books but can’t start until I finish the first one.
Unfinished business, projects, and conversations stop you from everything “new” in the New Year.
God finishes everything He starts. He finished creation before He made man. He finished redemption on the cross before He created the church.
What does “It is finished” mean to you at this critical moment?
1. You are FORGIVEN of all your past mistakes
You can’t move on with life while still analysing your failures.
You can’t drive a car looking through the rearview mirror.
I’m sure you made some pretty bad mistakes this year. Lot’s wife looked backward and was turned into a pillar of salt (looking at her mistakes!).
Jesus paid for your mistakes, failures, and imperfections. It’s called “grace.” Let grace wash your conscience clean by the blood of Jesus so you can start 2025 as a “new creation.”
2. You can FINISH what you have begun
Jesus told a parable about a man who started a tower and did not finish it. Nothing looks worse than an unfinished house in a neighborhood.
Maybe you got tired or discouraged. You gave up the project.
“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1: 6)
God will HELP YOU TO FINISH what you began. Be strong and call upon His strength to help you complete what you put your hand to.
3. You cannot finish what you COMPLAIN about
Israel complained in the wilderness about their circumstances. They never finished walking through the wilderness and only circled for forty years!
The root word for “complain” is to “stop.” Someone said, “Where you complain, there you remain.”
Complaining stops you. You enter into a “holding pattern.”
Ask God to forgive you for complaining about a relationship, a project, or a job. Thank Him for His grace to “complete” that assignment well.
Now, you can enter your “Promised Land!”
4. Focus on PROGRESS, not on PERFECTION
Perfectionists rarely complete anything. They focus on the minute mistakes that don’t matter. They cannot decide because there are so many options.
A published book is better than a perfect book.
Bring a project to completion. Quit overanalysing and throwing away your progress.
Make progress and complete it.
5. Finish your easiest project first
Make a list of things you did not finish this year. Start with the easiest one to finish and “knock it out.”
Maybe it’s your garage. It may be your clothes closet
You gain courage and inspiration as you finish at least one project.
It may not take you nearly as long as you thought!
Someone said, “A procrastinator is someone who can’t take NOW for an answer!”
“It is finished.” It worked for Christ, and it will work for you this year!
___
Republished with thanks to Larry Stockstill. Image courtesy of Unsplash.
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