Working out our salvation
NRSV) Phil 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmuring and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. 16 It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
Salvation—oh what a wonderful gift. It comes to us free from God, through grace, but then what? Well, then we need to live into our salvation. You see, through salvation we are redeemed, or bought back, by God. But following salvation we grow into Jesus’ image and His love, and as we grow in His love, we are sanctified daily. We are not made perfect but because of Him we become perfected in love.
Working out our salvation does not mean there is a cost, or that salvation is conditional. Instead, there is a user’s manual and it is called The Holy Bible. The Bible provides all of the instruction you will ever need to live into salvation. The Gospel of John provides a clear picture of Who Jesus is and Who we are in Him. Proverbs provides nuggets of wisdom, while Psalms is an outline of how to praise God, in good times and in bad. We can go to the Psalms for encouragement, when we are ill, or grieving, or when we feel alone.
The Pauline Epistles highlight the struggles of the Church as it battled cultural issues of the day, particularly the Greco-Roman influences, while the Johannine letters focused on truth and light. Samuel and Kings were written during the Babylonian Exile and pointed to the Hebrews’ disobedience, and Chronicles details the history of the Jews after the exile. And there is so much more.
Matthew 5 is our roadmap as we embark on the pathway of holiness. Recognizing the poverty of our heart without Jesus leads us to mourning, which leads to to being comforted, and we learn that meekness is better than pride as we acknowledge everything comes from God. We yearn to be peacemakers and acknowledge the only real peace comes from Jesus.
When you make a practice of reading from your Bible every day, there is a connection that is formed, for the more you read, the more you want to read. The Bible reflects the human condition—there is history, there is mystery, there are stories of faithfulness and loyalty, and there are stories of betrayal. But above all, there is a God Who loves us so much that He gave us Jesus.
So how do I work out my salvation? I ask God to quicken my Spirit when I speak an unkind word, and He does, so that I can make restitution right away. I prayed years ago that I would see people through His eyes, and I do, so that judgment is replaced with compassion. I write Devotionals so that my time with God gives me direction and purpose. I try to speak encouragement to someone every day, because we never know what others are going through. And prayer has become so constant that it is more of an ongoing conversation that never really ceases.
May we recognize that our relationship with Jesus is vital and in Him we truly live, and move and have our being.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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Seeking Holiness 