“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people” (Matthew 4:19).
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).
I will make you…
Work out your own salvation…
Interesting.
Jesus tells us that when we follow him, he will make us into fishers of men and women. That means, right now, in the midst of this smoke filled, corona virus global pandemic that God is at work in you to make you into fishers of men and women. God is making us the type of people that God will use to draw people into God’s eternity.
How is he doing that? What does that look like?
It is when we work out our salvation with fear and trembling that God is at work in us to enable to will and to work for his good pleasure. The phrase work out your salvation doesn’t refer to justification. Only the work of Christ on the cross can make us right with God. This phrase is referring to sanctification – the process of becoming more like Christ. Sanctification is the ongoing process after being made right with God where the Holy Spirit begins changing us. This change occurs in us as we participate with the Spirit of God to change our old ways by taking on new ways as the Holy Spirit leads.
What’s amazing about this is that God is telling us that these smoke filled pandemic days are the very mechanism by which God is shaping us to be fishers of men and women.
Do you realize what that means? You are in training right now! This is God at work. You don’t have to look any further. Every day you wake up, with every challenge you face, God is at work to make you more able to fish for men and women. God is at work to make you to be the instruments of grace and blessing to the people around you.
That’s great news! You’re in training.
Train hard! Give your best! Let’s do this thing!!!
Praxis: Faith in Action 