Work Out My Salvation

I follow Jesus. It’s who I am. Everything about me flows from that relationship. I have come to the conclusion that the confessional strain of the faith known as “Reformed” and “Presbyterian” is where I fit. This means something. It means I’m committed to the confessional standards of the Westminster Confession of Faith. I am what’s known as a “monergist.” I do not believe that we contribute anything to our salvation.

If all that is true how is it that I can title a post, “Work Out My Salvation?”

That’s a great question.

As a pastor I find myself having conversations about the question, “How do I grow in my faith?” or “How do we help followers of Jesus grow in maturity?” These two questions are important because they get to the heart of a key task of followers of Jesus. Namely, to make disciples.

How do we do it? How do we grow in maturity?

St. Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, 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 2:12–13 ESV)

How does that work, Paul? “Work out your own salvation…” and “…for it is God who works in you…” which is it? The answer is yes! Our faith is one of tension and mystery. While it is God alone who brings us to new life through faith, he calls us to play a role in the outworking of our salvation. We have a responsibility to move towards maturity.

How do we do that?

We must put in work. We do this through spiritual practices. Spiritual practices are simply tools to help us experience all that God is working in and through us.

Here are some of the spiritual practices that I have found to be helpful:

1. Service — engaging in serving others.
2. Worship — participating in corporate worship services.
3. Communion — spending real time reflecting on what is happening while I take the bread and wine in community.
4. Meditating on Scripture — the practice of taking a short passage of Scripture and allowing it into my heart and soul and just turning it over and over.
5. Scripture reading — reading large swathes of the Bible. I have found this to be particularly beneficial when I use The Message by Eugene Peterson to shake me out my expected rendering of original languages.
6. Corporate prayer — praying with friends is a remarkable way to go deeper with the Father.
7. Praying the Psalms — I love taking a psalm and turning it into prayer. These are the songs of our collective memory and they wake my heart up.
8. Discipleship — being a part of a group of people who are trying to engage in spiritual practice and helping one another hear what the Father is saying.

There are so many others! But, these are the ones I practice most often. Running after Jesus is really hard work! His invitation is, “Come follow me!” To follow him requires effort.

I’d love to hear other things that you do to “work out your salvation…”