In His Name Devotionals
WORKING OUT YOUR SALVATION
In His Name Devotionals
WORKING OUT YOUR SALVATION
Salvation is a gift, pure and simple. Nobody gets it because of deserving it. Nobody receives it at the end of the day for having worked hard to be worthy of it. In fact, Jesus even taught a parable to explain that nobody receives salvation as wages for work. It is always and only a gift.
In the Parable of the Landowner, a man hired workers at sunrise, 9 a.m. and noon. He even hired a few more as late as an hour before quitting time. When he came to settle up, he paid every person in his vineyard a full day’s wage. Predictably, the ones who had worked from early morning—who said they had “borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day”—were outraged at the injustice of it.
But in reality that was the whole point of the parable. Salvation is a matter of grace, not justice! “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” asked the landowner. “Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matt. 20:1-16).
Strange as it may sound, there are still people who resent the abundant generosity of our God. The very idea that a dying thief hanging next to Jesus could be saved needs explanation. Do you ever receive with skepticism and abhorrence, rather than with joy, the news that a notorious criminal repents of some terrible criminal act(s), accepting Christ?
“But Christ demands something of us!” comes the often stated protest. “Repentance is necessary if somebody really wants to get saved as is starting on a new course of life, and proving that we mean it. The Bible says to ‘work out your salvation with fear and trembling,’ doesn’t it?”
Yes, those words are in the text, but they don’t begin to mean what that above protester’s statement and claim implies. Are the words, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” Paul’s Spirit-given words? Absolutely. But are they his instructions to lost people who want to be saved? No, but they are a challenge to godly believers that they should, by their devoted walk with Christ, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who works in you to will and to act accordingly to His good purpose” (Phil. 2:12-13).
By His grace, God grants salvation to all who are in Christ. Do we have examples in the Bible of how folks obeyed God and were saved? Yes, especially in the Acts of the Apostles. Is obedience to God necessary? Without a doubt. In fact, Paul begins Philippians 2:12 by pointing out their faithful response to the divine commands he had taught them, “…as you have always obeyed…” But does the Bible teach that we have to work for our salvation? No, but a believer does bear the responsibility of actively pursuing obedience in the process of sanctification—working out its implications resulting from the unique situations each of us must face in life. Over time, the God Who works in us will lead us to work out the consequences of our new standing.
Have you ever been in love? If so, you have a keen insight for grasping this truth. God’s redemptive grace hits you the way being in love does. Somewhere in the depth of your being, something momentous shifts. You are never the same again. You understand yourself and your life in an entirely new way. Then, over time, you work out the meaning of what has happened—with great joy and peace.
Don’t ever begrudge grace or be envious of God’s generosity. Instead, just be grateful. For it must come to you as it has to the rest of us—an unspeakable gift.
