Work It Out

"So then, my dear ones, just as you have always obeyed [my instructions with enthusiasm], not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation [that is, cultivate it, bring it to full effect, actively pursue spiritual maturity] with awe-inspired fear and trembling [using serious caution and critical self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ]. For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure." Philippians 2:12-13 AMP

     A question I have had on my heart lately is this:  What am I producing?  In my home, in my role as Mom & wife, in church, in serving, in relationships… What is it my thoughts, words and actions are producing?  What are they stemming from?  Do they produce love?  Hope?  Joy?  Peace?  It would be great if they always did!  Do they flow at times out of a jealous heart?  Or selfishness?  Or bitterness?  Or fear?  Probably sometimes, which means I need to reevaluate things.  It may not be fun to think on such things, but as a believer I want to glorify God.  I don't want to cause another to turn away from church or my home or the Message due to hypocrisy on my part.  

     I am imperfect.  There's a shocker.  There are so many times my mouth says something I wish it didn't.  There are so many sighs of disapproval I wish I didn't let slip.  There are so many anger-prone moments when I unleash my rage against a particular offense.  I wish I could say when I was saved, these things stopped.  But they didn't.  Everyday is a choice - a chance.  Be my new self or old self.  Many times I revert to the old me and it isn't pretty.  (Jimmy Fallon's "Ew!" comes to mind.) 

"So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.  Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness." 1 Peter 2:1-3

     If we are not bothered by unkind speech or deceit or the like, we may have a problem.  Because the Lord desires so much more for us.  He offers so much more.  He created us for so much more.  Where is our awe-inspired fear and trembling?  Where is the working out our salvation?  Our active pursuit for spiritual maturity?  Are we crying out for His nourishment?  We don't invite Jesus in our hearts and stop there.  It is a continual renewal of the mind and heart.  It is a continual pursuit of holiness and pursuit of God.  It flows from thanksgiving and a grateful heart for what He's done for us.  A reverence for the fact that our life is through His.  We were lost, but now we're found.  We were dead but now we live.

     Perhaps the full experience of salvation is not just accepting Jesus as Savior.  Perhaps there's so much more.  Perhaps there's deliverance and healing that comes along in that beautifully-wrapped package.  He didn't just come to rescue us from hell but to give us LIFE ABUNDANT.  His death and resurrection is so much more than we fathom.  It holds the power to overcome!

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8