Commitment to the End

With many things, if we do not do them completely, we may as well not do them at all. Preparing the ground, planting the seed, watering the plants does not amount to anything if we don’t harvest the crop. Laying a foundation and setting up walls and rafters does not amount to anything if we don’t roof the building. We must finish what we start to get any benefit out of it.

All of Christ’s teaching and miracles, his prayers and persecution, his efforts at defending his message would not have laid the foundation for our salvation if he had caved under his final responsibility on Golgotha.

This observation acknowledges his completed obedience as the foundation for our goodness in God’s eyes, a goodness God views us as having only if the Messiah we commit to has achieved that completed goodness. On our side of the interpersonal process, we who have committed to Christ must likewise carry through to the end. As surely as finishing applied to him, it applies to us. Observing these emblems affirms our commitment to doing that.