Verse: Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Devotion
Do you ever get frustrated with yourself? Do you ever do stuff you wish you didn’t do, or say stuff you wish you didn’t say? Or do you ever not do stuff you wish you did to??? If that’s you (and I know it’s me) this verse is so encouraging.
Paul asks us to continue to obey. In fact he says to “work out” our salvation. Now, we know he can’t mean that we need to “earn our salvation through good works” because that would contradict everything he’s written already. Our salvation is not earned, it is a free gift of grace. However, we do have a part to play in “working out” our salvation. We have a part to play in living out the reality of our salvation, of aligning our lives with the will and Word of God.
However, catch the very next phrase: “for it is God who works in you.” We are called to work out our salvation, and it is God who is working it in us! Is this a contradiction? No, I don’t think so. This is about the beautiful, grace-filled partnership of life change that happens as we follow Jesus. We put effort in, we are intentional, we lay our lives down, and yet all the while the grace of God is right there enabling us, empowering us, and helping us.
In fact, the next phrase tells us that he works in us “to will and to act.” This is the second part of the encouragement. Sometimes we don’t really even want to try. We don’t want to change. Paul tells us here that God can not only give us grace to change, but he can give us grace to want to change. He can affect our will and our actions.
This is so encouraging. Taken as whole, he calls us to a life of obedience and working out our salvation—becoming more like Jesus—laying our lives down for him. But in that process he doesn’t leave us alone. He says that while we are working out or salvation, he is right there working on it with us—even to the point of giving us the very desire to change. He truly meets us right where we are, and walks with us to where he knows we need to go.
Are you partnering with God in your life change? Are you humbling yourself before him today and asking for him to lead you, change you, shape you, and form you into his image?
Author: Christian Dunn
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