October 11

Philippians 2:12, 13 is both confusing and comforting. It says, “Work out your own salvation for it is God who all the while is effectually working in you to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Work out your salvation…God is all the while working…

Who exactly is doing what here? Are we tasked with working in order to solidify our salvation? What about the assurance that salvation is a free gift purchased by Jesus Himself with the priceless commodity of His shed blood on Calvary? Did His blood pay for all our sins or part of them?

Is it a joint effort? Jesus has done His part and it remains for us to keep our end of the deal in order for it to be a binding contract? If there is some aspect of the deal that we must do, exactly what is our part? If eternal salvation hinges on our completion of our part, then we really must understand what our part is! It’s of utmost importance that we not allow ourselves to misunderstand what this verse is saying. Christ indeed has completed the work of salvation.

Our part is to receive His free gift, but once we do, there is a process of maturing in the things of God that requires us to, of our own volition, set aside our childish attachments to the things of earth and co-operate with the Lord in His project of conforming us to the image of Jesus. This process requires us to die to the old man who savored the temporal and become alive to the new man who receives the eternal with which He is replacing it.