The job is done - it is finished.

This is a post from March of 2013 - a good one for Holy Week I'm thinking. 

Are you a doer?   By that I mean, are you task-oriented?  I am.  I . . . do.  What I don’t get done, someone else has to do.  You know what I mean?  I have TONS of projects in my head that need to be done.  Pray for my husband, please J !

As a Christian, being a “doer” is a good thing – most times.  I mean there is work to be done in the church – and the church NEEDS doers.  “The harvest is plenty, the workers are few “  you know that verse.  So, I’m needed as a doer.  Being a “doer” completes me.  It’s who I am. 

But in the kingdom of God, as far as grace goes, there is nothing to be done.  I can’t do anything to get grace or to earn it, so to speak.  Grace has nothing to do with me.  It has everything to do with God.  So, as far as grace is concerned, the job is done already.   It is finished.

But wait, what I am supposed to do then?  Just sit here?  I gotta do something!

John 17 says:

After Jesus said this, He looked toward heaven and prayed:

 “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to all those You have given him.  Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.  I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.”

The work, the job has been done.  Jesus did it.  He came to this earth to finish what ultimately needed to be done for our salvation.  As far as our salvation goes, the job is done.  It is finished.

Sometimes, (most times), I have to tell myself that there is nothing I can do to earn my way into heaven.  I can’t “do” anything to earn this – just sit there, Debi.  Just listen, Debi.  Just be, Debi.  I pray over and over for a quiet spirit that will just “be”.  Not “do”.  Do you hear what I am saying?  "Doing" is not what you are all about.  Its not WHO you are.

I am a follower of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  His Child.  I am accepted and adopted into His kingdom. I am a forgiven, blessed, redeemed woman, washed by the blood of the Lamb.  That is WHO I am.  That is WHO you are! (Guys, please take the “wo” out! J)

This grace, this “job” that Jesus did, brings a peace of mind, a kind of satisfaction that nothing else could ever give me.  For it is the greatest job of all, don’t you think? 

As He hung on the cross, after being stripped, beaten, and scourged (being whipped with a whip made with thongs of metal pieces or bones), He declared,

 

IT IS FINISHED!

 

and died. 

There are no words left. 

 

Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.  When He had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.   John 19

 

The job is done.