Good News: Everyone needs a good workout
Do you know what could be as challenging as working out at the gym but is a whole lot more rewarding? Working out your salvation per the instructions from the apostle Paul. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ a new day has dawned for the spiritual side of our life. All things have become new according to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians but it’s right there that we start the journey of maturing and growing in our salvation.
We can’t earn salvation but we sure can show our appreciation to the Lord for His unmerited gift by walking worthy in that gift. When we believe on the name of Jesus, we are justified in God’s eyes on Day 1. We can never become more justified, but we can become more sanctified or separated to the things of God. It’s comparable to a woman who becomes pregnant. She is as pregnant in the first week as she will be in week 39. Even though she can’t become more pregnant, she can work out her pregnancy by the care and attention she gives to what she puts in her body for nine months. It’s the same with you and me.
What’s really encouraging are the examples of God’s men who we may consider giants of the faith but had to work out their salvation just like you and I do. Peter is a great example. After making his uplifting statement of “To whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life,” Peter stumbled a few times and it’s all recorded in scripture for us. When Jesus was about to be arrested by a mob in Gethsemane, Peter took a sword and cut off the ear of one of the Roman servants. Later, in the courtyard, Peter was confronted three times that he was one of Jesus’ disciples. He denied Jesus three times. After the resurrection, when the apostles were winning the Gentiles to Christ, Peter was exposed as a hypocrite because he would eat with the Gentiles when no Jews were around, but when the Jews visited, Peter withdrew from the Gentiles and would not eat with them. Paul, the new guy, had to rebuke him. So, working out your salvation, growing and maturing, takes some time. But now look at the change in Peter as he writes in 1 Peter 2:1-3 “So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. 2) Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, 3) now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. (NLT)
Did you catch that line about hypocrisy? That’s Peter working out his salvation, maturing and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Nobody is perfect, not even the apostles, but they give an inspired view of what overcoming the old habits of the past can look like, an overcoming life that you and I can live.
Ken Staley is the pastor of Faith Church of Pleasant Grove 9:30 a.m. and Harrisville Methodist Church 11 a.m. Both are Global Methodist congregations. pastorkenstaley@gmail.com
