“We must focus on Jesus, the source and goal of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
What’s the first thing you do when your teacher catches you and your friend in the middle of something you shouldn’t be doing? Be honest. You point to the other one and say, “He started it!" That’s because you are quick to pass the blame.
But if the teacher comes to you and your friend and says, “I really like that project,” you’re quick to say, “It was my idea.” That’s because you are quick to take the credit.
Being a Christian changes your way of thinking. If someone asks you how you became a Christian, you don’t get to say, “Well, it was my idea.” You get to point to God and say, “It was his idea. He started it.”
You were dead in your sins—and dead people can’t choose to come alive. God sent his Holy Spirit to create faith inside of you, to help you believe that because Jesus defeated death, you will now live forever in heaven.
Now every day you get to choose to live out the faith he gave you by the way you act and how you talk to people. Still, God doesn’t say, “Okay, I did my part. You’re on your own.” The Holy Spirit lives in you to give you the strength and love to be kind to others, to make choices that bring him glory, and to have faith your whole life through.
“[Be] confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).
Point to God and say, “He started it—and he’ll finish it!”
