“And in this I give advice: It is to your advantage not only to be doing what you began and were desiring to do a year ago; but now you also must complete the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have” (2 Corinthians 8:10-11).
“When the Lord gets ready, you got to move.” (1)
Tucked away within the pages of the Old Testament is an obscure little book known as Ecclesiastes. In chapter seven of that book we can find a brief observation that relates to the passage quoted above: “Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride” (Ecclesiastes 7:8).
You see, the ability to finish a task often depends on number of important attributes. Included among those qualities are things like perseverance, dedication, hard work, discipline, and the ability to plan ahead. Of course, the ability to successfully complete any undertaking may also depend upon another important quality: patience, or the capacity to endure through a difficult situation.
These were some of the qualities that may have been lacking in the Corinthian’s efforts to help those who needed assistance. While the members of the church may have started that effort with the best of intentions, it seems that other priorities intervened to the point where an entire year had passed with no apparent timetable for completion. So much like those who plan to finish a long postponed project “someday,” Paul the Apostle was apparently concerned that “someday” might never arrive in regard to this important task.
Thus, this portion of Scripture offers some practical insight for those (like the members of the Corinthian church) who are putting off something that ought to be done. While there may be good and legitimate reasons for failing to follow through on a commitment, it might be beneficial to prayerfully self-examine those commitments to determine if we are falling short in the areas of dedication, planning, discipline, responsibility, patience, or other such qualities.
Finally, one commentator leaves us with a challenging observation in this regard…
“It is a serious reflection on the integrity and stability of Christ and Christianity for congregations to be ‘alive’ with grandiose projects and plans, but ‘dead’ to the completion or fulfillment of their promises. Thus Paul urges them to ‘match’ their passionate willingness and their beginning actions with a completion of the project.” (2)
(1) You Got To Move (unknown) from the album Trimmed And Burnin’ Glenn Kaiser, Darrell Mansfield
(2) Paul T. Butler, The Bible Study Textbook Series, Studies In Second Corinthians (College Press) [p. 284] Copyright © 1985 College Press Publishing Company https://archive.org/stream/BibleStudyTextbookSeriesSecondCorinthians/132Corinthians-Butler_djvu.txt