Own Your Salvation: It is Personal

Philippians 2:1-15 (NIV): 1 "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."

One thing the Lord has been laying on my heart for a while now is that my salvation is personal. I cannot ride the coattails of others. It is not the salvation of my husband, my pastor, my friend that matters. It is personal. In these days of chaos and confusion, it is imperative that every follower of Christ have a real, authentic, and personal relationship with Christ. It is also imperative that we not rest on faith laurels of our own past. It is wonderfully beneficial to review what the Lord has done for us in the past, and to recall and bring to remembrance those times in the past when we felt particularly drawn to Him by His spirit, and heard His voice most clearly within our hearts. However, we cannot simply coast on these experiences from the past while living in the present. To do so in the present age is dangerous!

The world around us is quickly changing. The Earth itself is increasingly groaning and straining, and experiencing physical and spiritual upheaval on every level. Destruction from earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornados, is all around us. It is no longer just something we hear about in foreign lands, but it is in our own backyard. The major leaders of the world are -- whether knowingly or not -- carrying out an agenda that is not of our Lord, but is of the god of this world. The Lord is calling each of us, on an individual, personal level, to "choose you this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15).

Those that ride the coattails of others or even of their own past, will not be able to discern what is of the Lord .. or what is of the god of this world. Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light, and so do his followers, who often present themselves (even within the church) as righteous when in fact they are false prophets and teachers (2 Cor. 11:13-15). If we are not walking with the Lord daily, reading the Word of God and hiding it in our heart, and humbly asking the Lord to fill our cup with His truths, we like sheep will go astray.

I like how the King James Version of Philippians 2:12 stresses the personal nature of working out our own salvation: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Truly, your walk with the Lord must be your own! My walk must be my own! It is urgent that each member of the body of Christ wake up to this truth. This verse stresses the urgency: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." While the Lord does not want us to walk in fear, but rather in His perfect Love that casts out fear, this verse is written to stress the importance of not approaching our relationship with God casually .. we are not to presume we are rightly walking with the Lord simply because we faithfully go to church, or have a good pastor, or had a powerful conversion experience. Our walk with the Lord is to be daily. Give us this day our daily bread. We need fresh manna from heaven every day. His mercies are new every morning. So many verses speak to the "daily" -ness of our walk with the Lord. Having a personal and daily relationship with the Lord that is our own, and not that of another, is urgently necessary so we can discern what is of God .. and what is not.

^"1 Therefore, I urge [KJV: beseech] you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-2 (NIV).