LIVING OUT OUR FAITH

Philippians 2:12 says, "Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear." When Paul was still with the believers in Philippi, the Philippian believers followed the instructions of Paul. As a result, they were maturing in their faith in Christ Jesus because they were practicing what they were learning about our Lord Jesus. Now that Paul was away from them and in house arrest in Rome, Paul encouraged them to continue to work hard to show the results of their salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. As believers, our salvation is precious, and we need to work out or live out our faith every day by obeying God with deep reverence, which means overwhelming awe and respect for the holiness of God and who He is, and fear, which means fear from understanding that God is the judge of everything. In other words, we must live out our Christianity by obeying God with our deep respect and fear, with an understanding that He examines every motive that we have and everything that we do. 

One of the practical ways to obey God is to be humble, thinking of others as better than ourselves. Don't look only for our own interests, but take an interest in others, too. We must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had (Philippians 2:3-5). We humble ourselves because of our deep respect and fear of God. We need to understand that Christianity is about living out our faith in Jesus Christ every day through our obedience to God. We cannot just live the way we want to. We must live for God—the reason many do not want to genuinely believe in Jesus because it requires complete surrender to Him. The only way for everyone to obey God with deep reverence and fear is to have a genuine faith in our Lord Jesus. When we have a genuine faith in Jesus Christ, we can obey God because of our surrendered life to Him. 

True faith or true Christianity is about living out our faith in Jesus daily through our obedience to God with deep reverence and fear. We must apply our faith in Jesus wherever we are, whether we are at home, school, work, or wherever we may be. God saves us from our sins so that we may live a new life of obedience to His righteous ways in this world.

Questions for application: (Think through these questions carefully, meditate on them while answering them, and let the Spirit of God speak to you.) How am I living my life at this time? What is a proof of a genuine faith in Jesus? Have I surrendered my life to Jesus? If so, am I obeying God with reverence and fear?

Take a moment to write down all your worries today. Then, lift them to God in prayer, surrendering them to His will and trusting in His guidance.

Prayer:

Dear Father in Heaven, please help me to live out my faith in Jesus daily through obedience to God with reverence and fear. Wherever I may be today, please help me to live according to your ways, and not according to my pride and self-centeredness. Please help me to surrender everything to you, including my plans, desires, and dreams. In your name, Jesus, I pray. Amen.