Friends in Christ Weekly Message
September 24, 2005

     So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved. God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.
Philippians 2:12b-13 (CEV*)

Normally we are not completely transformed the moment that we accept Christ. Even if we have a dramatic moment like Paul did on the road to Damascus, this only begins the process.

The process of being formed in Christ puts us onto unfamiliar ground. It often does not feel very comfortable to us - we keep being nudged by Christ outside of our comfort zone. Paul understood this from his own experience, and so advised that we need to "work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved."

However, this is not something on which we have to place full reliance on our own will and strength. God is working within us in this process of transformation. Our "work" is to cooperate with God's work within us, and to follow as He leads.

Do I really recognize that professing Christ is not enough, but that I need to accept an ongoing process of transformation within me? Am I willing to follow as God leads me outside my comfort zone?

Bill Samuel

* Contemporary English Version ©1995 American Bible Society.

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