God is Pleased by Our Progress, Not Perfection

My goal in life is to be transformed and to learn to walk in love as I continue to grasp just how much I am already loved by my precious Heavenly Father. Seeing this love will enable me to know which goals I should strive for—the goals God desires for me to have. The more I realize the immenseness of God’s love for me, the more I will make progress on goals that I would like to complete.

God doesn’t love our completed tasks as much as he loves our enthusiasm to work for Him. He is pleased the entire time that we are taking steps of obedience, not just at the end. There are some things that will never be completed this side of heaven—like world peace, for instance—but God is pleased when we take steps to live in unity with one other person.

Progress toward our goals, and even more importantly, progress toward our becoming more like Christ, is an ongoing thing. There will always be more to do and more ways to grow in character and love. God is pleased when we take steps, when we step out of our comfort zones, and when we try.

Hebrews 11 says a lot about God’s happiness with our progress—otherwise known as faith:

• Faith shows the reality of what we hope for and is the evidence of things not seen yet.

• Through faith, people earn a good reputation.

• We can never fully know God and His ways but we can take steps to seek Him and seek to walk in the ways that we can decipher.

• Even when Abraham reached the land God had promised him, he lived there by faith. Abraham confidently looked forward to a city designed and built by God.

I will and should complete tasks in this life and with enough progress, the end of a project will come. But there will be another project to follow that. It’s a journey and each project will teach me something new and grow my character.

All the people written about in Hebrews 11 died still believing what God had promised them. They were all faithful and obedient during their lives. They all made progress. But they didn’t see the full conclusion—and you won’t either. How God uses our obedience may look different than we envisioned but that’s none of our business. The conclusion of every matter is totally up to God. 

But you can be obedient and make progress each day of your life, a little at a time. And… God will help you as you seek Him. God gave you that good work to do and He won’t leave you until your progress is complete.

The journey and the growth is really the ultimate goal and you won’t complete that until heaven.

“For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)

Pray with me:

Dear Lord, You made me for good works. You gave me the desire to always learn and grow in my ability to love You and my neighbors. Help me to make progress on my goals each day and not to worry about the conclusion that you may bring out of that obedience. Remind me regularly that your conclusions of every matter will always bring fruit even though the conclusion may be different than I was thinking. Your ways are above my ways. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Jennifer Heeren loves to write and wants to live in such a way that people are encouraged by her writing and her attitude. She loves to write devotional articles and stories that bring people hope and encouragement. Her cup is always at least half-full, even when circumstances aren’t ideal. She regularly contributes to Crosswalk.com. She lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband. Visit her at www.jenniferheeren.com.

Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com

Publication date: January 27, 2017