"Work Out Your Salvation" (Philippians 2:12-13) The Pursuit of Godliness!

When the Lord God originally created man, the mind, the will, and the emotions all operated in perfect harmony. Reason led the way in understanding the will of God, the will consented to God's will, and the emotions delighted in doing it! Because of sin being resident in man's soul, these faculties started to malfunction with one another as well as toward God. The will has become stubborn and won't consent to that which reason knows to be, the will of God! Even more commonly, the emotions will get the upper hand and draws away both reason and will from obeying the Lord. My point in sharing this is to highlight and enable the Christ follower to understand how the mind, will and emotions interact with each other in the working out of your salvation! While the will is what determines our choices, it is influenced in its choices by the strongest forces (the mind and or emotions) brought to bear upon it! There's help in our pursuit! It's found in our passage. Paul says, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil 2:12-13). The help in our pursuit of working out our salvation is found in the phrase, "God who is at work in you." The word "work" means "to produce, accomplish, bring about, to perform." What is God producing, accomplishing, and bringing about in the Christ follower? God is bringing about both "to will and to work for His good pleasure!" What an awesome statement! Yielding to the power of God energizes both the will and the actions of the Christ follower! The power of God is what makes the church willing and desiring to live godly lives! God not only energizes the will to consent to His will, but also the emotions to delight in the doing of His will! This is living life the way life was meant to be lived! This is what brings pleasure to God, for Paul adds, "for His good pleasure." Do you really want to satisfy God? Is that a big "want to" in your life? Let's work out our salvation. Let's actively pursue obeying God with "fear and trembling." Let's develop a healthy awe and reverence (fear and trembling) for God! You'll be glad you did! Your move. Be encouraged!