Work out your salvation
Philippians 2:4-5 NIV
not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Looking out for the interest of others is not that easy. Let’s be honest, many of us look out for our own interests and how we can be blessed sometimes no showing concern for others. We sometimes leave a trail of hurt and disappointed people in the quest of pursuing our blessing.
Paul is telling the Philippians about working out their salvation with fear and trembling tells them that as you pursue your own interest, also look out for the interest of others. This is the same attitude that was in Christ. He humbled himself to be a human and to die a painful shameful death on the cross because He was looking out for the interest of God and man. Without him, we would be doomed forever.
Working out your salvation is not an individual quest, it is a quest for unity that leads to oneness because we are one body and Christ is the head.
As you think of your own interest are you also thinking about your brother and sister? Will this be a blessing to them or will this leave them hurt and disappointed?
Salvation is not just about my relationship with God, that relationship should be demonstrated by how I treat and interact with others who are made in the image and likeness of the God I claim to serve. As the gospel singing group Point of Grace put it in one of their songs; “God loves people more than anything!” The Bible says; how can we claim to love God whom we cannot see and yet we hate a fellow man who is made in the image of this same God.
In our relationship with others, we should have the same attitude that was in Christ Jesus. What attitude did Christ have in His relationship with others? He laid down His life for them.
Take Out:
Do not just think about yourself and how you will gain, think about how others will gain also. In the kingdom, no one wins until all have won.
Remember;
Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.
