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. Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT)
When I first see the line “Work hard to show the results of your salvation,” I balk. Your salvation is by grace and grace alone through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. So what does this mean?
Let’s start with verse thirteen. “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” First and foremost, God is in it. He is active in your life and in your heart. He is prompting you, filling you with the desire to do what he’s calling you to do.
This is where our work comes in. We have to do what he says. The words “work out” here mean “to complete, to accomplish”. The process starts with God’s prompting, moves to us obeying said promptings and is finished with grace because let’s face it, we don’t obey perfectly.
That process, that relationship ends in our salvation.
The Bible is very clear. This whole Christianity thing is about being in a relationship with God. It’s about living life with God working in us and following his leading. If we were going to put together a job description for Christians some of the Job Responsibilities would be:
Listen to God every day and do what he says
Read the instruction manual and follow it
Share what you’ve learned with other people so they can learn too
Other duties as assigned (my personal favorite)
Do we have work to do as Christians? Absolutely! But let’s not confuse our role in the relationship versus the saving sacrifice of our Lord, Jesus Christ.