"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 God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain" (Phil. 2:12–16).
That inner grace you have has to be excercised. That nagging voice in your head is God tapping you on the shoulder and reminding you to do the right thing, lest you be blamed or guilty and with blemish. How? by holding fast to the word of life, by working in life to keep that temptation at bay, for God is at work in your will and work for His good pleasure.
If you do these things without grumbling or question, you will be lights in the world, but Saints? Not many of us, at least in my understanding of the term.
I think that the world is like a briar patch - by simply living in it, you collect stickers (slivers)by doing sin - you do have a sinful nature by birth. You're working to repress that nature. You gotta take the time to remove the slivers, from time to time. And, of course you try to navigate around the really thorny patches. Fortunately, we have a map in the Bible.
Good thing I don't have to be perfect from the word go, but I try to keep those tweezers handy.
Doug
· 3 years ago
There is also the point of view approach. God has justified us in His eyes, declaring us to be righteous. From that side, we are saints who collect slivers as we go through life. We shouldn't use this teaching to disregard our responsibility, but we do need to remember that it is how God views us that will determine our fate, not how we view ourselves.
We are saints, and even then we are sinners. Only through the gospel of grace can these two descriptions coexist.
Michael
· 3 years ago
Sean, Doug - thanks for the perspective. I think I'll wait until i join my maker, *then* ask if I'm a saint. In the meantime, I am going to keep acknowledging that I'm a sinner.
Michael
· 3 years ago
If you haven't read the full article at The Insomniac in comment #4, you're missing out. Click on the author's name. :)
Leslie
· 3 years ago
Thanks Michael. More importantly, thanks for raising question. It's worth talking about.
All Comments
"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 God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain" (Phil. 2:12–16).
That inner grace you have has to be excercised. That nagging voice in your head is God tapping you on the shoulder and reminding you to do the right thing, lest you be blamed or guilty and with blemish. How? by holding fast to the word of life, by working in life to keep that temptation at bay, for God is at work in your will and work for His good pleasure.
If you do these things without grumbling or question, you will be lights in the world, but Saints? Not many of us, at least in my understanding of the term.
I think that the world is like a briar patch - by simply living in it, you collect stickers (slivers)by doing sin - you do have a sinful nature by birth. You're working to repress that nature. You gotta take the time to remove the slivers, from time to time. And, of course you try to navigate around the really thorny patches. Fortunately, we have a map in the Bible.
Good thing I don't have to be perfect from the word go, but I try to keep those tweezers handy.
We are saints, and even then we are sinners. Only through the gospel of grace can these two descriptions coexist.