Never Done
Housework. Healthy living. Good relationships. Learning. Parenting. Ministry. Faith.
None of these are ever really completed. Any completion is really only a step toward what’s next. In fact, if we get to the point where we are finished, we begin to die in that area.
Never being done frustrates me sometimes. Knowing my feelings of satisfaction over completing something are only temporary sometimes discourages me. There’s always more to be done. Always more to know. Always a “next” to move on to.
With one exception.
Tetelestai
“It is finished!” (John 19:30)
Jesus’s last words on the cross.
Tetelestai means it is finished. It means to bring to a close, complete, or fulfill. It’s an accounting term that means something is “paid in full.” The debt of sin owed God was gone when Jesus declared “Tetelastai.” All of the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus were fulfilled. Done. Complete. No more “next.”
Peace in Completion
Jesus’s finished work has tremendous implications for us.
- We have a message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
- Sin and Satan have no power. (Ephesians 6:16)
- We can live as new creations in Christ. (Ephesians 2:1,5)
Instead of being frustrated by the constant “more” and “not done” of life, I can find peace in what Jesus completed. I can choose to focus on what’s done and let it motivate what’s “next.”
