Paul makes the point here, as he does in his other letters, that we are made right with God simply through faith rather than through our own works. Faith itself does not exclude works. The only faith that is genuine faith is the faith that genuinely works. Faith involves believing in what Jesus did to reconcile us to God. And it also, therefore, involves us entrusting ourselves into God’s hands. That is what reconciliation implies. It changes our position in relation to God. We become God’s children and our lives are back where they belong, in his hands. This instantaneous change of position then effects a gradual change of condition. For God’s hands are transforming hands. He shapes us inwardly by his Holy Spirit. For our part, we must outwork this inward change. We must press on and strain forward, as Paul says here, to ‘work out our salvation’ as he says in Philippians 3:12 . God gives us the free gift of a new life, and we must then live out that new life. Many Christians struggle to gain a sense of assurance about their salvation. You can know you are saved, however, when God is transforming your life. God changes what is in his hands. The Spirit at work within you is the seal of God’s ownership in you. The more you cooperate with God’s spirit by working out the change he is working in you, the more assurance you will have. Growth is a vital sign of life. Living things grow. If you are growing and bearing the fruit of that growth, then you are truly a disciple of Jesus (John 15:8).
Think about the next step that God wants you to take with him and commit yourself to this before God.
Read Philippians 3:12-21
