Spiritual growth

Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV)

……continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.

Every living Christian person is in a state of growth.  This verse describes a big theological word called “sanctification” that simply describes the position and pursuits of a Christian from the time we accept Jesus as our Savior until the time that we die.  The Greek word for sanctify is the same word used for holiness or saint (“hagioi”) that means ‘to separate” or “to set apart”.  The subject of sanctification and holiness is mentioned over 1000 times in the Scriptures so sanctification is a very important subject, yet few understand it.  Besides the above verse, other similar verses that describe spiritual growth include John 17:18-19, Romans 12:1-2, and II Thess 2:13.

Paul states that you are to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”…..what does that mean?  It is a continuous, life-long process to keep growing in your faith.  Sanctification is continuous salvation that progresses throughout the rest of the believer’s life.  The context of this verse is that Paul cannot be physically be present with these believers so they must work on their own to continue to grow spiritually.  This invokes the free will of man that it is his/her responsibility to keep progressing toward mature faith.  Paul elsewhere used the phrase “fear and trembling” (I Cor 2:3, II Cor 7:15, Eph 6:5) that described his own inadequacies apart from the strength of the Lord.  You are to take your spiritual growth very seriously…….do you? 

Note that fear and trembling is used to connect salvation with God working in your life (the connecting word is “for”).  Think about what a wonderful promise it is that God Himself is working in you what His purpose is for you on this earth.  In his book Purpose Driven Life (p. 174) Rick Warren states that “only the Holy Spirit has the power to make changes God wants to make in our lives”.  Later (page 180-181) he points out that God’s role is to “work in” your spiritual growth while it is your responsibility to “work out” (“act”) what God has already given you.

In what way(s) do you need to allow God to work in your life so that you can work out what He wants you to do for Him and for others in order to fulfill His purpose for your life with the time on earth that you have left?