You Can End Right

Read

Philippians 1:6 “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Think

His head was spinning. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He tried to answer his children’s questions the best he could, but his worst nightmare had become a reality. The love of his life, his wife, had left.

That is how the story of Hosea begins. Hosea was a prophet, God’s spokesman to the nation of Israel. His wife, Gomer, was stunningly beautiful. But she decided to leave. She walked away from Hosea, their kids, their home, and became a high-priced call girl. Just picture her cruising around Samaria, living large, collecting gifts from men who wanted her attention. For a while, everything looked great. Independence felt like freedom.

But then something shifted. The gifts stopped coming. The men stopped calling. The beauty that had opened every door started to fade. Gomer went from the most desired woman in the land to someone nobody wanted. She could not even get a date. And then, in the most devastating turn of all, she sold herself into slavery.

I have told this story from the stage several times, and every time I tell it, I watch the faces in the audience. Some look shocked. Others look like they are hearing their own story. Because here is what I have discovered about my relationship with God: whenever I cruise away from him, I crash right into him. God is the pursuing lover. He does not let us go quietly.

Picture the auction block. Gomer standing there, stripped and humiliated. People yelling out numbers. “Five.” “Eight.” “Ten.” Then a voice from the back: “Eleven.” The gavel fell. And Hosea, a little grayer now, a few more lines on his face, pushed through the crowd. He locked eyes with the woman who had left him, who had broken every vow, who had chosen everyone else over him. And the Bible says he clothed her. He covered her nakedness. He brought her home.

Here is what staggers me about that story. God told Hosea to do it. God orchestrated the entire rescue. Because the Hosea and Gomer story is really the God and us story. We are all Gomer. Every single one of us. We have all chased other lovers. We have all run from the one who loves us most. We have all ended up in places we never intended to go, stripped of the things we thought would satisfy us.

And yet, a nail-pierced hand goes up in the back of the auction: “I bid my precious blood for that one.” Jesus points at you and he points at me. He makes his way through the crowd, through the chaos, and he clothes us in his righteousness. He does not wait for us to clean ourselves up. He does not demand that we earn our way back. He pays the full price and brings us home.

Paul captured this truth in one sentence: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God finishes what he starts. Not might. Will. Even if you started wrong. Even if your marriage began on the wrong foundation. Even if your faith journey has been more wandering than walking. Even if you are standing on the auction block right now, wondering if there is anyone left who would bid on you.

I have talked to so many people who feel like their story is too far gone. Too many mistakes. Too much wreckage in the rearview mirror. They come into my office and sit down and say, “Pastor, you don’t know what I’ve done.” And I always tell them the same thing: you are right, I do not know. But God does. And he is not scared of your resume. He is not scrolling through your history and shaking his head. He is not evaluating you by your past. He is evaluating you by his promise. And his promise is that he will carry the work to completion. Not your work. His.

That is the difference between religion and the gospel. Religion says clean yourself up and then come to God. The gospel says God comes to you in the middle of the mess, pays the price you could never pay, and brings you home. Hosea did not wait for Gomer to get her life together. He went to the auction block. Jesus did not wait for us to earn our way back. He went to the cross. That is why Paul could write with such confidence. He knew the character of the one making the promise. God does not start projects he plans to abandon.

Hosea bought Gomer back from the auction block. He clothed her. He covered her shame. He brought her home. That is not a nice Bible story. That is the gospel. Even if you started off wrong, you can end right. Because God finishes what he starts.

Apply

Let him bring you home – If you have been running from God, stop running today. Write down the one area of your life where you feel furthest from him. Then read Philippians 1:6 out loud and ask him to complete the work he started in you. He will.

Pray

God, I have run from you more times than I can count. I have chased things that promised freedom but delivered slavery. Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for paying a price I could never pay. I believe that you finish what you start, and I am asking you to carry your work in me to completion. Cover my shame. Clothe me in your grace. Bring me home. In Jesus’ name. Amen.