With Selfish Determination

Though we're covering a lot of ground Scripturally in our continuing series HEALTHY HABITS, here's where we're lining up each Sunday morning:  "...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". (Philippians 2:12-13)

God has a part and we have a part.  God is working in us, as we said last Sunday "being faithful to complete the work he started in us".  But we have to put one foot in front of the other and do the "work" part of working out our salvation.  We don't work to recieve salvation and forgiveness of sins.  It's a gift of God, through Christ, that we couldn't possibly ever earn.  But we "do the work" of working out our salvation as we meet God daily in His Word, reading and studying the Bible; as we speak with him (and listen to him) daily in prayer; as we embrace generosity as a lifestyle, and as we gather together for fellowship, accountability and mentoring with like-minded believers.

There's another aspect to "working out our salvation" that I think is important, and maybe not something we think about in these terms: selfish determination.  So much of the time (and rightfully so) we focus our attention and study and teaching and activities on determining what we can and should and must do for others.  As followers of Christ, we practice self-LESS-ness.  And when we do, we do it to good result.  But part of "working out our salvation" is making the wholely selfish determination that WE alone are responsible for choosing what path we will take.  WE alone are responsible for beginning and maintaining the HEALTHY HABITS that mark a follower of Christ.  WE have to do the work, because NO ONE ELSE is going to do the work for us.

So pursue your salvation, and the CHANGED-LIFE it promises with a selfish determination to HAVE it!  And have it you will!  Hold fast to the correct belief that YOUR decisions and the actions YOU take will make the difference in YOUR life, and ultimately make you useful to God in the lives of others.

Don't wait for someone else to move.  Don't wait for God to drop it in your lap.  Don't wait until you feel like it.  Do it today!  Grab hold of your own life.  Grab hold of your own salvation.  With selfish determintation decide that you WILL be changed!  And God will work in you to will and to act according to his good purpose in ways you never even imagined!