Words of Grace

By Rev. Mahlon Nevel

A big crowd of people followed Jesus when he appeared in the city of Jerusalem. In one of his parables, he asked them if they would begin to build a tower, without first sitting down to count the cost.

If they didn’t have sufficient funds to build it, people would mock them. They laid only the foundation, but were not able to finish the job. (Luke 14:28-30)

Alexander Maclaren was the pastor of a church in England for many years. In his Expositions of Holy Scripture, he remembered something that happened on the coast of England centuries ago.

Some man, who had not calculated his resources, nor the strength of the ocean, began to build a breakwater with seawalls. He ran out of money and was not able to finish what he set out to accomplish.

To this day the blocks of dislodged concrete are lying in utter confusion on the beach. The out of control waves continue to break over them at every tide, laughing at the unfinished project.

Pastor Maclaren then made the following application: “None that look on God’s work will ever have the right to say that someone began to build and was not able to finish. There are no half-completed failures in God’s Workshop.”

That is what Philippians 1:6 tells us. “He that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”