“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. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Philippians 2:12-13 NLT
Salvation is not simply a thing to be attained and then stored. It is meant to be invested as a nest egg for a productive and fruitful life. It came at a great cost and should be treated as such. Yet many Christians spend very little time seeking to understand or even acknowledge the cost, the weight, or the opportunities that salvation brings. Essentially salvation opens the door to a free reserve of grace upon which one can begin to participate in sanctification. Sanctification is the process by which, through grace, we become that which God freed us to be. He did not save us to be as we were, but rather to be as we should’ve been, but were powerless to be. Given that it required his death to save us, and it requires our constant willingness to die to sanctify us, it should be taken very seriously. Scripture calls us to understand this deeply and to be reverent of it by participating with deep intent and gratefulness with the process. When Christians don’t understand what it costs to be saved and to behave as Christ, they inevitably live in conflict with God and often fall way from him and his blessings. Considering his kindness and our response to it should be an ever present task in our spiritual health and wellness.
JOSH McGARY. COM 