Embrace the Within no. 163

“Wherefore my beloued, as ye haue alwayes obeyed me, not as in my presence only, but now much more in mine absence, so make an end of your owne saluation with feare and trembling.”

Philippians 2:12 GNV

What happens when we lose fear and trembling? We think we have already achieved Heaven. So we no longer work for the Lord. We get content. We get lazy. We get in a rut. And I see a lot of folks that get saved and stop working. And I totally understand why they stop working. Because constantly working out your salvation with fear and trembling is a lot of work. And it is much easier to accept that you are saved and just stop right there. Works don’t get you saved, so why worry about works? I mean why worry about working anything else out once you find Christ. There is nothing more you need in a relationship with God.

It may sound absurd BUT that is the idea I see floated around a lot on the internet by folks professing Christ. There is no need to work anything out on this side of eternity. There is no need to do anything but ask for forgiveness. Once I get saved, I am good. I have all my bases covered and I don’t need to do anything else. So, what was the point of getting saved?

It’s a prevalent part of human life, selfishness, that stands behind this way of thinking. Selfishness is the problem I see when folks make this decision for their relationship with Christ. Because Christianity isn’t just a religion, it is a relationship. And how am I going to have a relationship with God if I ask Him to forgive me and then just go about my business? I can’t because I don’t want to have a relationship. I want to put God in a list and check Him off. I got saved and I’m good so let me just check that off the list and go about my worldly business. It’s absurd.

Selfishness is not just a problem for the heathens. Selfishness is a problem with folks in the church as well. Selfishness is my problem too. There are many times I want God to conform to my expectations. There are many times I want to put God into some terms that make life easier for me. There are many times I want life to be easy BUT I understand that working on a relationship is tough. I get really worried about folks that won’t have a relationship with their Creator because that is all He wants. That is why He made us in the first place. He could have done anything and He chose to create me. I think oftentimes we lose sight of just how important and special that makes my relationship with Him. And how I shouldn’t want to put limitations on that relationship. I should want that relationship to be the best that it can be.

We wonder why we have problems in churches? We wonder why we have problems in schools? We wonder why we have problems in marriages? We wonder why we have problems in homes? We wonder why we have problems in our community? We wonder why we have problems in our world? We wonder why we have problems in our lives? We are selfish. I am selfish. You are selfish. And rather than work out our relationships with fear and trembling, rather than becoming more like Christ, rather than working on being filled with the Spirit, I decide to stop.

“But the fruite of the Spirit is loue, ioye, peace, long suffering, gentlenes, goodnes, fayth, Meekenesse, temperancie: against such there is no lawe” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH