God’s Hope for Your Heart from Philippians 2
GOD IS THE ONE WHO DOES THE WORK
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12b-13)
Sometimes we may look at our Christian life and feel discouraged. Maybe we don’t pray as often as we’d like, or read the Bible as much as we feel we should. Perhaps serving others is still a struggle, or there is a stronghold of sin in our life that we can’t seem to tear down.
Do you know what that feels like? Do you try and try, work and work, but seem to keep slipping and falling?
Take heart! The fact that you have even the desire to change is evidence that God is working in your life. The fact that you even care is a reminder of the reality that Jesus is doing a work in your life and you are on the right path, even if your journey is going more slowly than you’d like.
Take practical steps to grow, of course, but in the meantime, remember this. God started the process in you, and He is the one who will do the work. Your task is simply to let go of those things that distract and hold you back and let the Holy Spirit have His way.
You are not the primary source of labor in God’s transformation of your life, so relax! Be encouraged to trust and obey Him more as you remember the hope of this truth: God is the one who does the work.
-Pastor Phillip
