Devotional

Work In Progress

Ready 

"I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
-Philippians 1:6

Set 

We have all coached them – the players who push us to the limit. Those players who drive you crazy (bless their hearts) as a coach because they either don't listen or don't do what you have asked them to do countless times. Just when you think you are about to pull out your last hair, a ray of light beams down, and something changes. Slowly, but surely, they start to change and conform to your coaching. Next thing you know, they get it. They actually get it. Sound familiar? Well, I know someone who has coached more people than any of us, and who deals with that exact situation on a daily basis.

Jesus Christ is the Master Coach. He has a loaded bench of players to choose from when making His "game plan" work in the hearts and lives of those who follow Him. However, there are some, I am sure, who push Him to the limits daily. They just don't seem to get it. What if Jesus treated us like we have treated these players over the course of time? What if He discounted us because we didn't get it right away? What if He benched us forever because we made one mistake and never gave us the chance to get it right?

But Jesus is no ordinary coach. He is the Master Coach. He understands that we are all works in progress. None of us has "arrived" as a player on His team. We may think we have, but He gently and sometimes sternly reminds us that we have not!

Because we are works in progress, Jesus desires to continue developing us, molding us, shaping us and coaching us to be the spiritual "players" we are called to be in His kingdom. Are you allowing Jesus to be the Coach of your life? Are you still a work in progress, or have you arrived already? My hope is that God is still working on you as He is on me, and, boy, He has a lot of work to do on this man for sure.

Go 

1. As a coach, have you discounted players in the past?
2. Do you see players as works in progress?
3. Today, how can you start to coach as the Master Coach?

Workout 

Proverbs 3:5-6
2 Corinthians 9:8
Ephesians 3:20

Bible Reference: 
Philippians 1
Ministry