Work Out Your Salvation

“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12 ESV)

I’ve heard this verse interpreted in different ways. Sometimes it’s used to encourage people to individually work out their relationship with God. Faith can be a conundrum. So it’s natural to feel the need to work on it like it’s a complex math problem.

What does this verse mean to me?

Salvation is the process of being saved from a life without God to a life with God. This new life has a different focus than the old one. My faith is evolving, growing. Even as a child, I believed in the existence of God. Yet, I was focused more on my self than God. My faith was just a peripheral tool to get what I wanted from God.

Gradually, my relationship changed. My purpose became to know God intimately, to love Him passionately, trust Him unconditionally, and serve Him faithfully. In this new life, God is the purpose and goal. Everything else is peripheral.

Working out our salvation involves exercising this faith. We must actively put our strength and effort into pursuing God and His purposes. This requires more than studying, listening, and discussing. We can have all the information about weight loss, but unless we get up and work out, we won’t shed any pounds. An active, intentional faith allows us to gradually shed our old self-absorbed life, and transforms us into toned, sculpted, lovers of God.