Loose Ends
Arghhhh! When will it all be finished?! I’m surrounded by loose ends. I started a renovation project almost a year ago and while I have accomplished much, it seems that all I can see is what I haven’t finished. The place looks a million times better than it did a year ago. Why can’t I just enjoy the small victories and ignore what’s undone for a moment?
Uh oh … this is not the only area of life I have experienced the same frustration in. Even as I write this, I’m reminded that there are so many things that I have started to do in family, personal discipline, ministry and the list goes on and on. It’s not that I’ve done nothing – it’s just that very few things are finished. The wood pile is definitely higher than when I started, but the wood shed is not yet full.
OK, surely God did not intend for us to live with continual frustration. I am compelled to look more closely at the life of Jesus for answers to this dilemma. Did He finish everything? I know that His last words on the cross were, “it is finished.” Did He really have no loose ends … nothing to be completed at a later date?
Acts 1:1 makes reference to “all that Jesus began both to do and teach.” Was this a loose end … something Jesus did not finish? As I look more closely I see Jesus committed to us the ministry of reconciliation, the task of leading people back to God. He asked us to continue what He started but did not finish. It was not finished because it could not be finished in His time here on earth. Was Jesus frustrated by this unfinished business? I see no indication of it.
The truth is that only the small tasks of life can be easily and quickly finished. The grander the task, the more time and resources it will take to accomplish it. Some tasks are eternal. They have no completion date. The doing of them will simply be finished when time runs out.
Our difficulty with these long term tasks is that we are destination minded. My grandfather used to tell me, “The things of God are not a destination, they are a journey. If you don’t learn to enjoy the journey, you may not recognize or enjoy the destination.” The principal that the ministry of Jesus teaches us is DO YOUR PART. Jesus’s entire ministry did not cover a very large geographical area and was mainly focused upon the Jews, but what a powder keg He opened in 3.5 years. The fuse was ignited during His earthly ministry but the whole thing exploded after His resurrection as those He had inspired and trained continued His unfinished business. The shockwave is still being felt around the world. I’m glad that Jesus did not let the frustration of unfinished business keep Him from beginning the project of reconciliation.
So, in short. Small things can be completed easily. Larger tasks will take more time and maybe more than one lifetime to accomplish. Enjoy the journey and do your part.
