Decades ago, I took part in a study designed to help teams and their leaders understand each other better and work together more effectively. At its conclusion, each participant received a report describing their personality type and the work environment they would most likely thrive in. And I still vividly recall my reaction to a couple of sentences in the summary I was given. They read, “Randy is a completer. He is at his best and most productive when given an assignment that allows him to fully own the details of a project and see it through from inception to completion.”
The observation that I’m a completer captivated me. For the first time, I had language to describe this aspect of my makeup. It was an illuminating discovery, but it also exposed a significant problem because almost nothing in life is ever really finished. There’s nearly always more that could be done if additional energy, passion, time, creativity, or skill were applied. And suddenly, I understood the source of the low-grade frustration that seemed to perpetually pursue me.
But the Holy Spirit used that revelation to get my attention about a critical issue in my Christian life. I’d become subconsciously skeptical regarding anything ever really being fully accomplished, and it was keeping me from embracing the unfathomable depths of grace contained in the dying words of Jesus.
John 19:28-30 records that in the final moments of his crucifixion, fully aware the plan of redemption had reached its climax, Jesus first ensured that an additional item could be checked off the list of messianic prophecies. When he said, “I thirst,” and was offered a sponge dipped in vinegar, he was fulfilling a prophetic description of the suffering Christ from Psalm 22:15. But immediately after that and just before bowing his head to surrender his spirit, he uttered the most profound claim ever voiced: “It…is…finished.”
That short English sentence translates a Greek word that is less about the conclusion of something and more about that thing being completed in full. Referring to the plan of salvation, Jesus was not saying, “Close enough, let’s call it good.” He was declaring that in exhaustive detail he’d fully accomplished EVERYTHING required to pay the penalty for humanity’s rebellion against God, open the pathway for us to enjoy a restored relationship of seamless love with our maker, and redeem all creation from the corrosive effects of sin.
Jesus left no aspect of his mission undone. Unlike human endeavors, his work was finished in the absolute sense. There’s nothing that can be added to make it more complete. The salvation his sufferings purchased is paid for in full. And although they are appropriate responses to the grace he secured for us, no act of obedience, devotion, or repentance on our part can increase its availability to us. Its benefits are ours to access by simple faith.
But accepting, trusting, and resting in the conclusive work of the cross can be a challenge for us. It was for me. In fact, it’s so unlike our lived experience it requires a form of faith God himself must provide. That’s why Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” But it literally changes our eternity when we choose to receive that gift and finally settle into the realization that the one who fully performed ALL that was required to rescue us from sin and its curse is also the one who enables us to enjoy the new life he made possible for us as the divine Completer.