Are We WORKING—STRIVING Toward the Upward Goal As We Should?
“So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
for it is God who is at work in you, both to desire and to work for His good pleasure.”
(Philippians 2: 12-13 NASB)
If we are planning, striving, working, and faithful employees, then we “work” toward the good of the company or institution to which we are employed. Whatever our hands are tasked to do, then we do “it” with our entire focus and might, knowing that as we do, our employer will prosper and approve our “good” works. We take pride in a good day’s “work.” Our ancestors, our great-grandparents, our grandparents, and our parents have set the example for us to follow. Therefore, we too strive to set the example for our own children and grandchildren, praying they see our “work” as valuable and necessary and profitable. It’s a generational cycle.
God knows how we humans think; He Created Us!
God knows how we humans tick; He Fashioned Us Inside Our Mother’s Womb!
God knows how we (humans) daily sin; He Sent His Only Son to Us, to Provide the Only Way to Know Him (God)!
God knows Us, & We humans are to be HIS—in our minds, in our spirits, in our soul, and of course, in our strength.
It is the “strength” part that tugs at my heart today.
S—T—R—E—N—G—T—H
Have we noticed the length of this word? Eight letters long. One letter for each day & One letter remaining, maybe because God knows how we might walk in unfaithfulness one out of the seven days of every week. Maybe not you; maybe just me.
Strength to “work.” It is a necessary component, but the question becomes: What are we to “work” for (“work” toward) as we move throughout the years of our lives?
On Thursday, I drove quickly to campus (nothing new there), but once I parked my Subaru and then placed my backpack and laptop in my office, I scurried to an early-morning appointment I had previously scheduled with Kyle, a retirement representative.
We shared a pleasant greeting, exchanged early-morning comments, and then got down to business, the task of seeing if I was saving enough to “last-out” my years of life I hope to live.
“Kyle, I plan to work until I am eighty-five, maybe even eighty-seven, and then live until I reach one hundred and three. Well, that’s my plan, if God allows me to.”
“work out your own salvation . . .”—We do not “work” to reach our own salvation. NO! Jesus Christ, Himself, completed all that was required, all that was necessary when He defeated death upon the cross and raised to new life three days later. Jesus Completed the WORK that we could Never Do! Our task is to “work to reveal God’s Salvation,” to reveal to the world JESUS who lives inside us, guiding us from within our soul.
“with fear and trembling; . . .”—We can live & “work out our salvation” because of the reverence we have for Holy God. It is for Jehovah God that we are what we are—HIS!
“for it is God who is at work in you, . . .”—We are called to respond to God, to obey His commands, & to repent when we sin as we are led by God’s Holy Spirit. This action is an “active” work, never passive, just living, just going through the motions kind of life. NO! We can NEVER drift into holiness. It’s impossible. We do our part, & Holy God works in us and through us, sanctifying us, growing us, maturing us for the day we will arrive home in heaven. We are most definitely a “work in progress” as we go throughout our days we are allotted to live here on earth.
“to work for His good pleasure.”—We are God’s. Period. Until the moment of our salvation, we belong to the father of lies, to Satan, to the demon of the darkness. Then suddenly, we see God & we give our heart to Almighty God as we step into the incredible brightness of God’s Holy light. God illuminates our sin, calling us to repent, to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, to believe Jesus resurrected to newness of life, to accept that Jesus’ shed blood covers our multitude of sins, & we confess Him as Lord. It is then, at the exact second God’s Holy Spirit fills our being that we begin—“to work for His good pleasure.”
So, the question becomes not WHO we work for but Why do we “work.” An incredible question, and if God allows me to be employed as a teacher of students until I reach the age of eighty-seven, then thankfully, I have several more years to “work” toward the why as I strive forward walking with God as I go. See how the Apostle Paul reveals the WHY to us.
“Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 3: 13-14 NASB)
Thus, everything found within this world is worthless when compared with the intimate value of knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord.
For HIS sake, we discard everything!
For JESUS, we count all that we have acquired or are acquiring or will acquire as garbage.
WHY? It is only so we can gain Christ—the upward call of God!
God gave us His best—His Only Son Jesus!
Should we not strive, work, and strain with all our might toward HIS GOOD PLEASURE!