Posted on by intentional4christ

(Un)Finished Business

2025 ended on a different note than most years. You see, usually, I would wrap up all my affairs and outstanding projects by December 30th and spend the final day of the year praying and planning my activities for the next year. But 2025 was different. As of December 31st, I was still running errands, paying bills, and many things on my to do list still remained undone.

A few weeks ago, I said to someone, “unfinished business makes me uncomfortable,” and the Holy Spirit took that as an opportunity to make that a teaching moment. Every day, I make a list of everything that I want to accomplish and I work hard to cross as many of them off. And those that did not get crossed off today make it onto tomorrow’s list, and so it goes. I have become a slave to my lists.

However, the reality of the matter is that as a human in a broken world system, I will always have unfinished business. One day, I will shut my eyes for the very last time and my lungs will expire their last breath, and there will remain things undone. There will be that one bill I did not yet pay, that email that I did not respond to, that one project that I did not deliver on, that phone call I did not return. My work here will remain forever unfinished. This is the result of sin’s effect on the world. Sin broke everything, making sure that everything that sin touches will never be finished. Enter Jesus Christ…

Jesus took on humanity and walked on this earth for 33 years. He assessed our brokenness from his vantage point as human, but this had no hold on him because he had no sin in him. Then, in his last moments on earth, he did what no human had ever been able to accomplish since the fall of man: He FINISHED his work.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.

John 19:30 BSB

He ended sin’s reign of terror with those three simple words. In conquering death, hell, and grave, Jesus broke sin’s power over us forever. This freedom ensured those who believe in him and receive his free gift of salvation will also finish their work here on earth. For believers who die in the LORD, their work on earth does not just end with an ellipsis (…); their lives do not end in an eternal pause. No, it ends with a period (.). They accomplish their work, they finish the race, and enter into the joy of the Master (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

For the first time there will be no unfinished business. Their salvation, fully worked and accomplished through faith in Jesus, will pave the way for them to enter into God’s presence. And there, they will hear a statement only befitting of work that is finished: “Well done!”

But wait, there is even more good news.

Sin’s brokenness has created a world order, an unspoken law of toil. We toil and toil; we are slaves to tasks and to-do lists; we clamor to feel accomplished which is often short-lived; there is always yet another thing to do- this RAT RACE called life. The good news is we do not have to wait till the end of our lives to experience the freedom that comes with knowing that “It is finished.” We can experience it now.

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.

Galatians 5: 1 NLT

We do not have to strive to be good. It is unnecessary. Our righteousness, our goodness is found in Christ alone (1st Cor 1:30). The work we do, our labour (job, profession, occupation), is not for vainglory. It accomplishes our purpose here on earth. It helps us to occupy till Jesus comes again. It helps us prepare for our future reign with the King of kings. Our earthly labour is not defined by Adam’s curse (Gen 3: 17-19), but rather the works of our hands serves a larger purpose: an Ephesian 2:10 purpose.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

Ephesians 2:10 BSB

So friends, in 2026, don’t be a slave to your to do list. Take time to enjoy the presence of God, resting in His promise that IT IS FINISHED!

Happy New Year!

Yours Truly.

Posted on by intentional4christ

For the Love of God!

If you read the title of today’s post and thought, “Oh my! this is going to be a rant!”…. well… you are not wrong! But stay with me you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

We are now in October and I am already starting to dread the days leading up to the end of the year when I review everything that was on my new year’s resolution list to accomplish for this year. There are things on that list that I can catch up on and get done so I can check them off; but sadly there is so much more that I will have to concede that I failed to accomplish. One of them was to blog at least once, every week, for every week of the year 2024. And if you have been following my posts, you know I have failed woefully on that account. Another even more important thing on my list was to read my bible and spend time praying everyday. Well… that too went the way of the dodo and now I am left with two choices. Do I make up for lost time from now till the end of the year? or do I simply decide that I failed to meet these goals for this year and put them on the list again for next year? For some of you, you have fallen off the wagon for your diet, or exercise regimen, or may be for you it is also something of a spiritual discipline. I’ll tell you what I did:

I decided that everyday I have life is an opportunity to do and be better… to occupy well… and so I grabbed a 30 day devotional to read through the month of October. And guess what? God met me right where I was. Yesterday, I decided to read the back cover of the devotional and right there was this statement:

“For some of you, daily devotionals is a familiar discipline. For others, this may be new or a habit that has been hard to master. If you miss a day, do not be discouraged. Simply begin anew. This is not a test of endurance or consistency. It is an opportunity to be fed and loved by God”

Dr. John Neufeld

That just warmed my heart. It felt like God reaching right down from heaven to remove my guilt for not spending as much time with Him throughout the year and give me a new perspective for the rest of the days ahead. Do you know how many times my approach to reading the bible has been to just get it done so I can cross it off my list? Can you imagine how God has felt all these years when I grab my bible to meet with Him and I am rushing through it just to get it done so I can go to sleep? How many wonderful opportunities have I missed to just be fed and loved on by God as I spend “unsanctioned” time in His presence?

Today, I have come to find encouragement in these words: that reading my Bible and spending time with my Heavenly father is not a test of endurance or consistency but rather an opportunity to have God reach out and feed my hungry soul and quench my ravaging thirst with His very presence and His word. God is not as interested in how many times I have read my bible as He is in how many times I have given Him an opportunity to refresh and replenish me. His ask is very simple.

You have said, “Seek my face.” My heart says to you, “Your face, LORD, do I seek.”

Psalm 27:8 ESV

He says, “Seek my face” and like the psalmist, my only response should be “your face Lord do I seek.” And you know why? For the love of God… that’s why. Spending time with God is not only an expression of how much I love God, but an opportunity to experience first hand His love for me. It is all for the love of God! So folks if you are so far behind on your bible reading goals for this year, its not too late to catch up- well, realistically you will not catch up if you are months behind; but there is brand-new mercy and grace and an abundance of love waiting for you the next time you pick up your bible. It is never too late for that! Now this is not a criticism of those who have made a discipline of reading their bibles and spending time with God everyday. I do commend you! Rather, this is to take away the condemnation that the enemy brings to those of us who have fallen off the wagon and to silence the voice that wants to rob us of the opportunity to experience the love of God in these last few days of 2024 by telling us “its too late to pick up the habit!”

I grabbed another devotional to read with my kids and the topic for today was “starting over.” The devotional said:

Aren’t you glad God is in the “starting over” business? He doesn’t look at our failures. He’s not interested in focusing on what wagon we’ve fall off of . He’s only interested in picking us up, dusting us off, and putting us back on the road to success once more. What wagon have you fallen off of recently? don’t worry about it! just make up your mind to try once more God will honor your faithfulness.

Janice thompson

If I was doubting that God is lovingly reaching out to encourage me, I don’t doubt it now! How about you? Is God saying something to you through these words? You better believe it is all for the love of God!

Yours truly.