Paul, on Working out Salvation 

Phil 2.12 says, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." That frightening thought is preceded in verse 5 with, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus..." and followed with this in verse 14, "Do everything without complaining or arguing..."

That paragraph of scriptures would be almost overwhelming to me if it were not for the 13th verse: "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

Yes. The only way I can even hope, on relatively good and calm days, to "do everything without complaining or arguing" is the assurance that God is at work in me and in every situation in which I find myself!

Sometimes I feel as though God has tied me on the front of a locomotive and I'm shooting down the track. It's a 'by faith' thing that makes me believe there is an engineer in the cab and someone sitting in a control room somewhere watching the lights on the big board saying where we are and if there are any 'hot boxes' that might indicate wheel bearing problems, or which connections this train makes as it speeds along the network of rails that crosses the country. There are the scanners along the tracks which informs people in rooms hundreds of miles away what cargo is in which car on which train and where it needs to be switched to get it to the final destination.

All I really know as I'm strapped to the front of that locomotive piercing the darkness with its oscillating light showing me little but hopefully alerting vehicular traffic to my impending passing, is that whatever is quickly coming my way is really beyond my ability to stop. Years ago I would chuckle when I would hear an elderly preacher say, "Let God be God." That was back when I felt that my usefulness to God was dependent upon the extent of my ambition and political/relational sensibilities. I felt that the work of God was dependent upon me making it happen and whatever personal fulfillment I experienced was related to my efforts and achievements.

But...I couldn't reconcile my justification of personal ambition with the entirety of Philippians chapter two. I eventually relinquished my determination for self-determination to God and learned the daily prayer of 'not my will but Thine be done.' Now I find myself strapped to the front of that locomotive.

It's okay...I know the Engineer. He knows where we're going.