NOV 20 | Why Paul Posted His Rough Drafts: The Revolutionary Truth About Philippians 1:6
The LinkedIn Culture We've Created in Christianity
You know what nobody posts on LinkedIn? "Still figuring it out." "Made the same mistake three times this week." "Honestly, not sure what I'm doing." We live in a culture of curated perfection, where every post is polished, every photo is filtered, and every story ends with a lesson learned and victory achieved.
But here's what's absolutely revolutionary: Paul—the apostle Paul, the man who wrote nearly half the New Testament—was literally chained to a Roman guard when he penned one of the most hope-filled verses in Scripture. And instead of projecting strength and spiritual superiority, he essentially told his friends, "Yeah, I'm not done yet. And that's actually good news."
This changes everything about how we understand spiritual growth, Christian community, and the very nature of grace itself.
The Context That Changes Everything: House Arrest and Honesty
Philippians 1:6 has been embroidered on countless pillows, printed on graduation cards, and quoted in thousands of sermons. But we often miss the jaw-dropping context. Paul wrote these words from house arrest, possibly facing execution. His ministry looked like a failure by any worldly standard. He was restricted, confined, and dependent on others for basic needs.
Yet from this place of limitation and uncertainty, Paul writes with remarkable confidence—not about his own completeness, but about his ongoing transformation. He writes, "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
The power of this verse isn't just in its promise; it's in its premise. Paul acknowledges that both he and his readers are works in progress. The good work isn't finished. It's not even close to finished. It's actively being worked on, revised, edited, and refined.
The Greek Word That Revolutionizes Our Understanding
The Greek word Paul uses here is "epiteleo," and it's absolutely beautiful when you understand its cultural context. This wasn't just a generic word for "complete" or "finish." This was the specific term ancient artists used when describing the final touches on a sculpture—the detailed work that required patience, precision, and couldn't be rushed.
Imagine Michelangelo working on David. The basic form is there, but now comes the painstaking work of perfecting each muscle, each curve, each subtle expression. That's epiteleo. It's not starting over when you make a mistake. It's not scrapping the project and beginning fresh. It's the continuing refinement of something already declared "good" but not yet complete.
This completely reframes how we think about spiritual growth and transformation. God isn't waiting for us to mess up so He can start over. He's not disappointed that we're still under construction. The ongoing work IS the plan.
The Draft Metaphor: A Modern Understanding of Ancient Truth
Think about what Paul is really saying here. He doesn't say, "He who began a perfect work." He specifically says a "good" work. You know what's good but not perfect? A draft.
Every writer knows the difference between a rough draft and a published piece. The draft has potential, contains the core ideas, but needs refinement. There are crossed-out sentences, margin notes, question marks, and entire paragraphs that might need restructuring. But here's the crucial point: a draft is still valuable. It's still purposeful. It's still moving toward completion.
Paul is essentially telling the Philippians—his favorite church, the ones financially supporting his ministry—"I'm still in draft mode, and so are you. And that's exactly where God wants us to be right now."
The Partnership Principle: Why Community Requires Incompleteness
In verse 7, Paul calls the Philippians "partners"—koinonos in Greek. This is business language. These are co-investors, stakeholders in an active enterprise. You don't have business partners in a completed project; you have partners in something that's actively happening, growing, developing.
This completely revolutionizes how we think about Christian community. We're not meant to be a showcase of finished products. We're meant to be a workshop of works in progress. The church isn't a museum of saints; it's a construction site of souls being transformed.
When we pretend to be complete, we actually break the very partnership Paul describes. How can we be partners in growth if we're pretending we've already arrived? How can we bear one another's burdens if we won't admit we have any?
The Jesus Connection: Every Kingdom Metaphor Is About Process
This connects powerfully to Jesus's teaching. Think about the parables He used to describe the Kingdom of God:
A mustard seed growing into a tree
Yeast working through dough
Seeds growing secretly in the soil
A treasure being discovered and purchased
A net being drawn through the sea
Every single metaphor Jesus used for the Kingdom was about process, not arrival. Growth, not completion. Becoming, not being. The whole biblical narrative assumes you're unfinished, and more remarkably, it assumes that's the design, not the flaw.
The Timeline That Liberates: "Until the Day of Christ Jesus"
Paul says this work will continue "until the day of Christ Jesus." That's not next week. That's not after your next Bible study or spiritual retreat. That's the end of the age, the return of Christ, the culmination of history.
You have divine permission to be incomplete until Jesus returns.
Let that sink in. The apostle Paul is literally saying that God's timeline for your completion extends all the way to the second coming. You're not behind schedule. You're not failing because you still struggle with the same issues. You're not disappointing God because you haven't "arrived" yet.
This timeline isn't about God's patience with our failures; it's about His intentional, purposeful process of transformation that takes exactly as long as He designed it to take.
The Cultural Challenge: Why Modern Christianity Struggles with Process
We've created a Christian culture that's oddly uncomfortable with Paul's theology here. We celebrate testimonies of dramatic transformation but get uncomfortable with ongoing struggle. We love before-and-after stories but don't know what to do with "during" stories.
Social media has amplified this problem. We post our victories, our breakthrough moments, our answered prayers. But Paul is modeling something entirely different. He's saying, "Let me show you my rough draft. Let me share my ongoing revision process. Let me be honest about what God is still working on in me."
This isn't weak faith—it's mature faith. It takes spiritual maturity to admit you're not spiritually mature. It takes strength to acknowledge weakness. It takes completion to admit incompletion.
The Practical Application: What Changes When We Embrace Draft Mode
When we truly grasp Philippians 1:6, several transformative shifts happen in our spiritual lives:
1. We Stop Performing for Others If God is okay with us being in-process, why are we exhausting ourselves pretending to be finished? The energy we spend on maintaining a facade of perfection could be redirected toward actual growth.
2. We Start True Community Real fellowship becomes possible when we drop the masks. That person you're afraid to be real with? They might be exhausted from pretending too. What if your honesty about being in-process gave them permission to be honest about their own journey?
3. We Experience Grace Differently Grace isn't about God overlooking our rough edges or tolerating our incompleteness. Grace is God actively, lovingly, patiently working on the manuscript of our lives, not rushing the process, not abandoning the project, but faithfully completing what He started.
4. We Minister from Process, Not Perfection God's not waiting for you to get it together before He uses you. He's using the draft. The messy, marked-up, still-being-edited draft. Some of the most powerful ministry happens when we share our in-process struggles, not just our completed victories.
The Ultimate Reframe: God as Author and Editor
Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of Philippians 1:6 is what it reveals about God's character. He's not a harsh editor with a red pen, frustrated by our continued mistakes. He's not a disappointed author, wishing He'd started with better material.
Instead, He's the patient artist, adding details, refining features, never rushing the process because He knows exactly what the finished work will look like. He sees the completed sculpture in the rough stone. He sees the published masterpiece in the rough draft.
And here's the miracle: He's so confident in His ability to complete the work that He's already using us in our incomplete state. We're like a novel being published in serial form—each chapter valuable and purposeful, even as the story continues to unfold.
The Permission You've Been Waiting For
So here's the question that changes everything: What would shift in your life if you truly believed God was okay with you being in draft mode? What would change if you shared one unfinished area of your life this week? Not performative vulnerability—real "I don't have this figured out" honesty.
Because here's the revolutionary truth of Philippians 1:6: You're not behind. You're not failing. You're not disappointing God. You're in process, and that process is the point. The work continues, the revision goes on, the Artist keeps sculpting.
Maybe grace isn't about God overlooking your rough edges. Maybe it's about Him publishing your story while you're still writing it, using your draft to encourage others in theirs, and promising that He who began this good work will be faithful to complete it.
You're under construction, and that's not just okay—it's the good work Paul was talking about. The confidence isn't in your completion; it's in the Completer. And He doesn't abandon His projects.
Welcome to draft mode. It's exactly where you're supposed to be.
An Invitation to go Deeper….
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