Willing & Working

Many times, we will pull out verse 12 by itself and craft it into a guilt weapon with which we beat Christians into trying harder and performing better. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” we pluck out and recite to God’s kids as if our Heavenly Father is an abusive parent we have to walk on eggshells around for fear of facing His wrath. I wonder, if this was how a human parent operated, would we call him a “good, good father?” No, more likely we would call CPS. Instead of the truth of the gospel, we have settled for out of context, poorly understood, scriptural bullying. You see that little comma there? That means Paul is in the middle of a sentence, so let’s read the whole thought.

Work out (express to its fullest & complete measure) your salvation with awe & reverence. How? By doing more good Christian things? Through exhausting self-effort fueled by fear? Nope! Paul says, GOD will bring forth in you BOTH the desire and the effort. Why? For the sake of His pleasure! In other words, because He enjoys it! He enjoys creating goodness in you. He is not begrudgingly doing life with you. He doesn’t give a big sigh and say, “well, she couldn’t do it herself, so I guess let me get in there and fix it...” No. He delights in your dependence on Him. It is His great joy to bring forth in you both the will and the work. You have permission to enjoy it too!