We are all familiar with the self-apellation Jesus used, Alpha & Omega, Beginning & the End. For many years I thought that just meant He was infinite. Of course, that in itself is magnificent. Recently I heard a teaching tying this in with Author & Finisher of our Faith; that Jesus would begin a work in us and would finish it. This was an interesting truth, and I’ve been mulling it over for the last year or so.

When the Spirit begins a work in us, He will finish it. There is no question, because He has declared Himself to be the Finisher. He does not lie, nor does He fail. That should give us encouragement. No matter how bad things get, we can rest in the knowledge that He will complete the work He started.

I have used this concept to help me focus on finishing my bachelor’s degree. I have been discouraged often, wondering if I would ever finish. But this knowledge, that He will finish His work in me, has kept me going. I have stood on this.

Today I graduated from Old Dominion University with a BS in Computer Science, minoring in Computer Engineering. I was thankful that God finished this part of His work in me. I understood that He had begun the work, and He completed it.

However, the Spirit enlightened the eyes of my understanding, when He spoke this to me:

The end of a thing is better than the beginning.

Ecc 7:8

Imagine a master carpenter like Norm Abrams (New Yankee Workshop… I love that show). He wants to make a beautiful side chair. So he draws up plans, gets the supplies, measures, cuts, glues, nails, sands and finishes the piece. He begins the work and finishes the work. Now I can do the exact same thing. I could make plans, buy wood, measure, cut, clue, nail, sand and finish. I could spend the exact same amount of time doing all that work, and I guarantee you I would not have anything even close to what Norm can produce. The point is not the work. We don’t grade on effort. We grade on the finished product. The reason Norm does the work is to take raw material and turn it into a beautiful work of art. If the end (the side chair) wasn’t better than the beginning (2×4s in Lowe’s), it would just be a guy in his garage avoiding housework.

I missed this point entirely. I thought God was going to give me the grace to finish. I had no idea he would restore the years that the canker worm stole. I had no idea He would produce beauty, when I had come with ashes. I did not realize He would take my burlap and turn it into cashmere. Read that verse from Ecclesiastes again. The end is better than the beginning. The promise is not just that there will be an end. The promise is that the end will be better than the beginning.

Not all my grades are in, but I believe I finished this semester with a 4.0. I got the highest grade in my class on a national Computer Science exit exam, scoring in the 99th percentile nationwide. Because of this, the CS department gave me a $150 gift certificate to the bookstore, where I was able to get a nice ODU hoodie that was out of my price range normally (along with a bunch of other swag). Tony Snow was the commencement speaker, and gave an excellent speech talking frankly about God and country. My son saw me graduate. I was interviewed by the Virginian-Pilot, and I was able to share a bit about my faith, and what I shared in this post. When the reporter asked if I was proud, I was able to tell her the second part of Ecc 7:8, “The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

I say all this not to brag, but to give glory to God. He is the one who worked in me, both to will and to do His good pleasure. If we talked about what I was able to accomplish on my own, I could show you strings of Withdraw-Fails and dropped classes. Despite my best efforts, the Spirit completed His work. Well, He completed a work. I’m excited to see what He’ll build next.

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