Read · Philippians 2:12–13

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 in order to fulfill his good purpose.

These two verses have confused sincere people for centuries, and the confusion usually comes from reading only the first one.

Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Taken alone, that sounds like a terrifying assignment and like the whole thing depends on us. But Paul doesn’t stop at the end of verse 12, and the word that opens verse 13 changes everything. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

We work out what God works in.

Notice the two different words. We work out what God works in. Paul isn’t telling us to work for our salvation, which he spends the whole book of Galatians demolishing. He’s telling us to work out the salvation we’ve already been given, in the same way that a person works out a muscle that already exists or works out the implications of a decision already made.

Not

Work For

Trying to earn what God gives.

But

Work Out

Living out what God has already given.

And here’s the part that should steady us. God isn’t standing at a distance evaluating our effort. He’s inside the effort, producing both the willing and the acting. That means the desire you felt this morning to do the right thing wasn’t something you generated. It was evidence of God already at work in you.

God isn’t standing at a distance evaluating your effort. He’s inside the effort.

So what about fear and trembling? That phrase isn’t about being afraid of God’s rejection, because Paul has already told this church that God will complete what He started. It’s the appropriate seriousness of someone who realizes that the God of the universe is actively at work inside their ordinary life. You’d tremble a little too.

Then catch the small phrase in verse 12 that’s easy to skim, which is not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence. Paul is describing obedience that doesn’t require supervision. Some of us have a faith that performs beautifully when the right people are watching and quietly goes dormant when they aren’t.

The real question isn’t what you do on Sunday. It’s what you do on Tuesday when no one would ever know the difference.

Reflect

Where is your obedience currently dependent on someone watching? Be specific about the area and the audience.
What desire to do right have you felt recently that you dismissed as your own idea? What if that was God at work in you?

Today’s Move

Pick one thing you’ve been doing only when observed, and do it today with no one watching and no intention of mentioning it.

Then pick one thing you’ve quietly wanted to do for God, and take the first step on it before the day ends.

Pray

Father, thank You that You aren’t watching my effort from a distance but working inside it. Produce in me both the willing and the acting. Give me an obedience that doesn’t need an audience, and make my ordinary Tuesday look like it belongs to You. In Jesus’ name, amen.