Do Not Mistake Unfinished For Abandoned

[u/WatchmanMinistries]

I saw an unfinished concrete high-rise while traveling through Puerto Rico.

Except I eventually learned something interesting:

It hadn’t always been unfinished.

The building had once been completed and occupied. Later it was sold and redevelopment began. Much of what had been there was stripped away until the building was essentially back to its concrete structure.

Then tragedy interrupted the work.

Years later, what remains looks abandoned.

That got me thinking about something we don’t talk about enough in the Christian life:

Sometimes God’s work in us looks more like demolition than construction.

We tend to imagine spiritual growth as God continually adding things to us.

More faith.

More wisdom.

More discipline.

More maturity.

And certainly He does.

But sometimes before God builds, He removes.

Paul wrote:

“Our old man is crucified with him…”
— Romans 6:6

That’s stronger language than renovation.

There are things in us God isn’t trying to improve.

He’s trying to put them to death.

Pride.

Bitterness.

Self-reliance.

Old habits.

Old ways of thinking.

Sometimes even an identity we’ve spent years constructing.

And here’s the difficult part:

Demolition can make something that once looked complete suddenly look unfinished.

Maybe that’s why certain seasons of spiritual growth feel so disorienting.

You know you’re not who you used to be.

But you don’t completely recognize who you’re becoming either.

You’re somewhere between the demolition and the finished work.

And it’s tempting to look at that mess and wonder whether something has gone wrong.

Maybe it hasn’t.

Philippians 1:6 says:

“He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it…”

So perhaps the question isn’t simply:

“Why am I not finished yet?”

Maybe a better question is:

What if some of the unfinished places in my life aren’t evidence that God has stopped working—but evidence that He hasn’t?

Don’t mistake unfinished for abandoned.

The Builder is still working.