Are you moving forward?
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)
As we have seen in the earlier part of this chapter, Jesus was obedient to the Father and therefore we should follow him in obedience as well. Here Paul acknowledges the Philippians obedience to Christ that he had witnessed in the time he spent with them and encourages them to continue and grow in this in his absence.
We can’t just be content with memories of how we’ve followed Jesus in the past, we need to continue to follow him today and every day. It’s not sufficient to look back on times of faithfulness, when we were excited to talk about our faith, encouraged by meeting with other Christians and times when we spent quality time with God regularly and really knew God’s presence with us.
We need to move forward in our faith day by day, as we walk with God and ask him to continue to change us.
God is working in your life challenging and changing you from the inside out – we should respond to this with fear and trembling, acknowledging him as sovereign over our lives as he transforms you into his own image. You need to take God’s challenges seriously. You need to work out where God is working in your life and live in such a way that lets his transforming power in your life be seen by those around you.
Do you invite God to be the centre of every part of your life or are you holding back?
Do you really believe that he can and will work in you, transforming you and the situations you find yourself in?
Let’s ask God to refresh our desire and excitement to live for him, sharing, telling and praying confidently with an expectation for him to answer us.
Lord, be the centre of my life, transform my every part, fill me with desires that match your desires and use me to work for the sake of your kingdom and the glory of your name