Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from Philippians 2:12-13.

 

“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”  Philippians 2:12-13.

 

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It is awesome that God is at work in you.  So, live out your life with that sense of awe.  In other words, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”.  Verse 12.  This certainly does not mean that we focus on ourselves and our own works, but rather it means that our whole life should be a reverential worship to God, because we realize that the Almighty God of the universe is at work within us.  “Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling.”  Psalm 2:11.

 

From the beginning to the end of our lives, Christ is “the author and perfecter of faith”.  Hebrews 12:2.  Because we fix our eyes on Jesus, we recognize, remember, trust God’s work within us, live out our lives in worship to God with reverence, and rejoice.  “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones;  And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.”  Psalm 32:11.

 

In the beginning, God created us for good works.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  Ephesians 2:10. 

 

Also, in the beginning, God made us alive:  “even when we were dead in our transgressions, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”  Ephesians 2:5.

 

In the “middle”, today’s Scripture teaches us that “God … is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”  Verse 13.

 

Toward the end, God will perfect His work within us.  “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 1:6.

 

In conclusion, the whole process of God’s work from beginning to end is described in Romans 8:29-30.  “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;  and these whom He predestined, He also called;  and these whom He called, He also justified;  and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”  Awesome!