For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13
“God wouldn’t want me like this.” Have you ever thought that?
After six decades in ministry and thousands of sermons, an elderly minister was asked what he would preach if it were his last sermon. “I believe I would speak on the grace of God,” he answered. “I’d drive it home … how you can know this grace personally. You don’t have to clean up anything. You don’t have to correct anything. You don’t have to dress up in any way. All you have to do is come to Christ.”[1]Michael Foust, “Chuck Swindoll Shares the Topic He’d Preach if He Had 1 Final Sermon,” Salem Podcast Network, July 27, 2026, https://salempodcastnetwork.com/family/pastors/chuck-swindoll-shares-the-topic-hed-preach-if-he-had-1-final-sermon.
Sometimes we imagine Christianity begins once we’ve conquered our worst habits, resolved our doubts, and learned how good Christians behave. But grace means we don’t have to earn God’s love or make ourselves presentable before approaching Him. His favor is neither earned nor deserved. Jesus didn’t wait for His first followers to become finished products. He simply called, “Come, follow me … ” (Matthew 4:19). They would learn from Him as they followed.
For the next three years, Jesus’s closest followers repeatedly got things wrong. They argued about who was the greatest. They tried to send inconvenient people away. They panicked in storms even after seeing His miracles. These were the people Jesus was teaching to become like Him. Jesus welcomed them before they were mature, and He kept working on them.
He does the same with us. “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and … power to do what pleases him,” the Bible explains (Philippians 2:13). God’s grace welcomes us as we are and keeps changing us as we follow Jesus. Don’t mistake unfinished for unwelcome. Bring Him the habit you can’t break, the question you’re afraid to ask, the failure you’d rather hide. Start where you are. Then keep following.
