Several translations read, “work out your salvation.” The
idea is not to work for your salvation or to work to earn or purchase your
salvation, but for your salvation to work out into changing how you live. The
next line re-emphasizes that when it reminds us that it is God working in us,
not us working for God. It is God who gives us both the will and the ability to
do that which pleases him. Everything that we are instructed to do in the following
verses are done not by human effort, not by trying really hard, but by reliance
on the motivation and empowerment of the Holy Spirit who dwells within each
believer. How might it change those moments of temptation if we turned our eyes
on Christ rather than on the thing we are trying to resist? How might it change
our attitudes and actions toward those who have offended us if we set our minds
on Christ rather than on their offenses? As believers in Jesus Christ, God is
at work in us. Do we believe it?
Philippians 2:12b-13 (NLTse)
Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
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