So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.
Philippians 2:12-13
We all have heroes and people we look up to. I remember some of the first Christian books I read, one was ‘Run, baby run’, the story of Nicky Cruz. The other was by Bruce Olson called “For this cross, I’ll kill you’. For years I wanted to be like Bruce heading to a tribe like the Motilone Indians or like Nicky deep in gang life!
Perhaps we do this with other Christians we know – people we look up to and want to be like. But here Paul encourages us to work out our own salvation. This is not our own way of being saved – that is achieved through what Jesus went through at Easter. But more working out our own way of living as a Christian. What is God calling me to do today? Where is he leading me?
You are his unique masterpiece – so why try to be someone else? Or to live someone else’s life? You are the best person to be you as you seek God’s plan for your life.
Note the order of the second verse we are looking at today… God has to work in us, before he can work through us. This principle is seen at work throughout the Bible in the lives of men like Moses, David, the Apostles, and others. God had a special purpose for each man to fulfil, and each man was unique and not an imitation of somebody else.
Where does the desire to serve God come from? Is it an outward pressure from other friends, family, influencers? Or is it an inward force that comes from God, filling you and equipping you to serve him wherever he leads you
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