A Work-in-Progress used as an accounting term refers to a product which is under a completion stage. Some work has been done, but it is not yet finished.A building which is still under construction is a WIP. An unpublished book, currently written, is a WIP. A pizza cooked in the oven is a WIP. The term would define for itself: everything that is still in process is a Work-in-Progress.
I was working on my audit working papers when my officemate, a year and a half my senior, already asked to see my work for checking even though he knew it was not yet done. The work is about 25 percent complete. When he demanded it from me, I felt like not giving it because I did not want him to see a work that is not even half done. Why? If it is about the rating that I would get, then I would have to show him a work that would give me two thumbs-up. (I gave it, anyway.)
I was able to relate that scenario with my relationship with God. Sometimes I am so in a hurry to ask for God’s output, not taking into consideration the “percentage-of-completion” He is on in terms of His work in our lives.
Are you not like that sometimes too?
Listening to one of Russell Moore’s podcast, he said “sometimes God just knows when to ignore us”. So true! If we could just hear GOD speak to us: “Wait”, He would say. “It is 30% complete yet. Wait for the finished product. Surely, it will be more than you have ever dared imagine”.
How does God’s work differ from ours?
God’s work is perfectly planned. With my audit WP, sometimes I still wonder what details to include and what not to. But God does no wondering. He knows exactly what He is doing, with the right mix of ingredients and perfect timing.
God is not like Santa Clause who seems to focus on the wish lists that we have. But I’m sure God also is not like any other stranger who does not care about His people. He cares. He loves. He sees every tear and hears every cry. He is the first One to sympathize with us. This is one of the reasons why it is easy to trust though it’s hard to understand.
What I love to think about, is that all these things that we are waiting for, eternal or temporary, are all just part of God’s main products: you and me!
God’s actual WIP is you and me. All these things we wait for are all just part of molding us and creating us to be more like Him. Though our salvation is 100% complete, He is not yet done working within us, changing us to be more like His son Jesus Christ. The process could be difficult. It could be a mixture of good and bad experiences. Laughter and tears.
But we endure, because we are enabled. And “being like Jesus in every way” is what our hearts desire!
All for His glory!
God bless “God’s WIP”!
Jesus Avenue 