I am saved. Are you? Are you sure? I am sure! I am nothing like I once was. Nearly all my thinking, emotions, desires, ambitions, ability to love God and others, has changed. I am saved from my former life of sin and selfishness to a new life dedicated to God. I am not perfect, that’s for sure. Thank God, its not perfect people who are saved, its forgiven people (those who choose to live by God’s grace exhibited in Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross). So, even though I am saved, I am still ‘being saved’. And when I die, I fully expect ‘to be saved’. I was saved, am being saved, and will be saved. Huh!? Amazing. The apostle Paul said that we should work out our own salvation (not on our own merit) but personally (no one else can be saved for you). Its not that we do the heavy lifting in salvation, God did that! We believe and exercise our faith (that’s our part). We must do that. Don’t worry so much about whether you chose God or He chose you. Let me ask you… which blade of a scissors does the cutting? Just be obedient. After all, it is God who is working within you Christian. Listen to Him, allow Him to even give you new desires.
Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; Philippians 2:14-16a NLT
How am I working out my salvation in this season? How am I cooperating with the Spirit of God in sanctification? How does my complaining reveal that I have a long way to go?
God, as this day begins- I just want to live it for You and Your glory. Self gratification is so surprisingly empty and fleeting. I am choosing to hold fast and firm to the teachings of the Bible so that I might live the life You have wanted for me. Oh I need Your help. Work within in me, as I work out my salvation with fear and trembling.
