It is finished...

Aren't those awesome words? Truth be told, I'm pretty excited about those words because I just typed THE END on my fifth manuscript. It's a great feeling!

Except that I know I'm not totally finished. There are revisions to be done before my baby gets shipped off to the interested editor. And after my story is contracted there'll be even more work to do.

But for right now I'm going to enjoy a small taste of what completion feels like. And ponder the meaning of the word "finished."

Have you ever wondered if Jesus' words from the cross, His declaration of triumph, "It is finished" really meant finished as in totally, absolutely done?

Do you believe those words?

Yes and no.

Yes in the sense that I believe as fact Jesus accomplished for me on the cross what I could never accomplish for myself. He purchased my sin and paid the debt in full, giving me His righteousness in its place.

But if I'm honest, my answer has to be no sometimes too. No in that I hide from this truth in how I act. I try to add to what Jesus did by performing good works in order to gain His favor. Or I try to do those good things to gain the favor of others.

Good works are good if it's God working in you to will and act according to His good purpose. But they don't change how God thinks or feels about you. They don't change your standing before a holy God.

That was finished on the cross. Finished. Complete. Done. Never to be changed.

God will forever see me as His forgiven child, complete in Him, lacking nothing.

I don't have to work for His favor or His love.

I can rest.

So can you.

Because Jesus' "finished" means just that.

It is finished.