When we reflect upon our times in life, where we remember at most, the people who was there with thus through even the most difficult situations. For many, that could be a close relative, friend and even a total stranger. Regardless however, if we perceive it in our life as what total abandonment really means to us, I think most, if not all chrisitians will have a very simular answer in that where love is conditional, where commitment fades, I know only one that was with me through it all! My Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. The beloved apostle Paul, sat in his Roman prison, chained to the wall as a enemy to the empire, he declared a very prominent thing. God is always faithful to finish what God has started—and He does so in a way that is above and beyond all we can possibly imagine. Through God’s own character beloved, we are to never underestimate God through our own faithfulness even long after you completed your obedient service to God. What this truly means friends, is that when all seems completed, all seems lost or even all seems not to be moving forward, God is not done with us, as He is always involved with our life with Him. In continuing my sermon series, the things God cannot do, we are going to look further into the God who cannot be uninvolved.
Sarah carried unforgiveness like a stone for fifteen years. Her husband had an affair. They reconciled, but the wound never fully healed. Every disagreement reopened it. Every moment of distance triggered the old pain. She prayed, but the bitterness remained.
One day, her teenage daughter asked, "Mom, why are you still so angry? Dad said he was sorry. God forgave him. Why can't you?"
The question shattered Sarah. She realized she was teaching her children that forgiveness has limits, that some wounds are too deep for God’s grace. That night, alone, she finally admitted the truth: She could not forgive on her own. She needed God to do the work in her.
She joined a small group focused on healing and reconciliation. She began a prayer discipline of intercession for her husband—not to change him, but to change her heart. Slowly, something shifted. Not overnight. Not perfectly. But God was working. The bitterness began to lift. She could remember the affair without the sharp sting. She could see her husband's genuine remorse and receive it.
Five years later, Sarah and her husband are stronger than ever. More importantly, their children are learning what real forgiveness looks like—not pretending the hurt didn't happen, but allowing God to transform it into something redemptive.
Sarah says in the article: "I thought God had abandoned me in that pain. I thought I was stuck forever. But God was involved the whole time—in my small group, in my prayers, in moments of unexpected grace. He didn't leave the work half-finished. He perfected it."
The first point I want to make today, is when we really think about our own lives, as God’s work began in you, when ever will it finish? The day we meet God! And a very radical point comes to my mind that our salvation is God’s initiative to us, not our achievement that we earn. No one woke up one morning with the full self willpower to become a Christian, follow God and be His disciple. God had to come to us first. With full mercy, conviction and grace we do not deserve. The Gospel of John 6 tells us "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."
Jesus makes it plain: the initiative belongs to God. We do not stumble into the kingdom through our own seeking. The Father draws us. This is not coercion; it is invitation. But it is God's action first which means, from the very beginning of all creation, God is fully involved. Let me give you some food for thought. Pauls first letter to peple of Corinth says “No one can say, “Jesus is Lord”, expect by the Holy Spirit.”
The women sarah, what was she trying to do? Darkness made her bitter. An unforgiivng spirit gave her turmoil that absoltuely blinded her. For Sarah, it was forgivness. For you, it may be resentment, anger, malice, guilt, whatever it is that prevents you from truly discovering the God who is always involved yet we forget just how involved He is!
Listen to this. Peter asks Jesus: "How many times should I forgive? Seven?" Jesus answers: "Seventy-seven times"—meaning, without limit. For sarah, and us today, forgiveness is not a quota you fill and then stop. It is the posture of a kingdom person.
Then Jesus goes on to tell us why. A king forgives a slave an impossible debt—ten thousand dollars, enough to bankrupt a nation. The slave is released, free, restored. But immediately, that same slave finds a fellow servant who owes him a money—a hundred dollars—and chokes him, demanding payment. When the debtor begs for mercy (using the exact same words the first slave used), he refuses and throws him in prison.
The king hears and is enraged. He calls the slave back and says: "I forgave you everything because you begged me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave the same way I had mercy on you?" Then he hands him over to the torturers. Reaped what he sowed.
This goes into my next point where God does not stop, but He continues. How many heard, theres always room for improvement?
Mitchel joined the gym to get in shape. On day one, he was huffing and puffing after five minutes on the treadmill. A younger guy next to him was running like it was nothing. Marcus wanted to quit right then.
But he kept going. Weeks passed. Still slow. Still struggling. He felt like he was not making progress. One day, frustrated, he complained to the trainer: "I have been here two months and I am still exhausted after twenty minutes. What is the point?"
The trainer smiled and said, "Two months ago, you could not do five minutes. You are doing four times that now. You cannot see your own progress because you are living it every day. But trust me—you are changing."
Mitchel realized the trainer was right. He had been so focused on where he wanted to be that he missed where he had come from.
That is exactly what God is doing that indeed we are to continue growth and sometimes we don’t see it that way. But God sees it. He is continuing the work, even when progress feels invisible to us.
The final point I want to make is if God is this faithful and involved, what is our part? Three things:
First, stay open to God's shaping. Do not resist correction. Yield to the Spirit's leading. Pride says, "I know better." Humility says, "God, keep working in me."
Second, remain faithful in the means of grace. Prayer. Scripture. Worship. Communion. Fellowship. Acts of mercy and justice. These are not add-ons; they are the channels through which God sustains His work in you. Show up. Participate. Let God work through these disciplines.
Third, live with confidence, not fear. When growth feels slow, remember: God is still involved. His hands are still on your life. You do not have to panic. You do not have to perform. You can rest.
Here is the promise: God cannot be uninvolved.
He began the work by grace. He continues the work through every season—comfort and hardship, triumph and struggle, clarity and confusion. And He will finish the work in Christ Jesus.
If you are weary today, God has not walked away. If you are struggling, He has not abandoned you. If you feel unfinished, remember: God does not abandon His project. You are His project. And He is faithful.
Trust the God who is never uninvolved. Yield to the work He is doing in you. Rest in the confidence that He will finish what He began.
Repeat this.
God started it. God will sustain it. God will complete it.
This only works when we surrender to our Lord while realizing we need to stop trying to fix it ourselves. When we walked away from God because your angry with Him, disappointed or just done, call a person who you trust and know that can pray and help you. Pastor, friend, whomever. Finally, remember what Grace means. It’s God’s unmerited favor to you, as we stay faithful to the practices that connect you to God and His work, like prayer, scripture, worship, communion, fellowship, etc..