Phil. 2:12,13 says "...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

Here's my questions:

1. What does it mean to 'work out' our salvation? Isn't salvation a result of an act of faith, a once for all decision?

2. What does it mean by 'fear and trembling'? Shouldn't our salvation come with joy and peace?

3. What does it mean that 'it is God who works' when it just stated that we are to work out our salvation?

so there you have it...any thoughts?

2010. That's a strange year to say, isn't it? Do we say 20 10? 2000 10? or just '10? Anyway...

I was thinking about that old favorite, the new year's resolution. Actually, I've never been a fan. I honestly can't remember any resolutions I've ever made. I suspect there have been some, I just can't remember. I guess they weren't too significant.

Maybe it's because the focus is a little off. Should our greatest resolutions be about what we are able to willpower into reality? Should our goals be summed up in do's and don'ts?

Shouldn't our resolves be about who we are? Our character, our views, our life decisions? If those are our resolves, will they naturally begin to translate into our decisions, our do's and don'ts?

What is your resolve this year?

I visited an elderly man in the hospital last week. He had just had a stroke. He was pretty affected by it. He talked nonsense if you could understand him at all. It didn't seem that he was aware of where he was or what was going on around him. The room was rather quiet so I began to read Psalms to him. This is a man who is not familiar with the Bible at all, but I thought it might be therapeutic anyway. I started with Psalm 139. Shortly into the Psalm, he declared, "incredible." As I continued to read, he started to nod his head. When I finished the Psalm, he sighed and said, "holy smokes." I proceeded to read another Psalm. He proceeded to nod, and when I finished he said with a sigh, "holy smokes." I went ahead and read another Psalm, then another. Every time I did, he would nod along in agreement and then bring his amen of "holy smokes." I figure I read to him at least 15 Psalms, each with the same punctuation from my aging, bed bound, stroke impaired patient.

What was going on? What could he hear/understand? How was his jumbled brain interpreting what he heard? Or was there ministry riding on the words of the Psalms, spirit to spirit ministry? I know what I saw, heard, and felt. However, there was much more happening that I can't fully explain. At the time, and even now, the unexplainable was perfectly fine with me, because what I had the privilege of witnessing was both very genuine and very precious.

In all things God works for the good of those who love him.

Everything happens for a reason.

One of these phrases is scripture - a truth longing to be mined and polished so it will shine. The other phrase is more common, possibly more believable and more believed, and yet always leaves me very empty. Why, because it's simply not true!

Seriously, does it satisfy you at all when someone tells you that 'everything happens for a reason'? Does it fill the gaping hole in your mind? your heart? your gut?

Why do we believe it? And why don't we believe the first phrase, the scripture, the truth?

Why do we settle for a false superficial answer and dare not wrestle with the profound Word of God?

This past weekend I had a brief conversation with a lifelong faithful Christian who completely blurred these two phrases. It was sad to see the confusion. It was sad to think of the years and decades of poor teaching and/or understanding. Mostly, it was sad to witness the tainted view of God it had caused, and therefore the missed opportunity for a deeper relationship with the lover of her soul.

Do you understand the difference in these seemingly similar yet polar opposite phrases? Can you articulate the difference to a struggling friend? Give it a shot. Here's a good place to practice.

[ a few helps: 1. ask God for revelation, 2. study the context by looking at the whole Romans 8 chapter, and 3. after 1 & 2, if you want you can listen to my sermon on this topic http://wellspring.net/?q=node/309. Note, the recording begins with a skit]

I watched the movie The Soloist. Granted it was on a plane, so my viewing quality and personal attention was less than ideal, but this is what I saw. The movie is a true story about a LA Times reporter who befriends a homeless man. The appeal is that the homeless man is an amazing musician, and he's been diagnosed with mental illness. The result is a volatile mix of moving interludes and rash reactions.



Throughout the movie religion is presented as a cold, uncompassionate, empty form insisted upon by simple-minded people. However, the inspirational hope of redemption that is available for both the homeless man and the reporter is through the saving grace of relationship. It is the channel for both awakening the heart (the reporter) and clearing the mind (the homeless man).



As I watched, I felt sad. Is it true that the world's view of religion stands in direct opposition to life-giving relationship? Is it true of all religion? Have we all failed to reveal the God who so desperately wants to be in relationship with us that he laid down his own life for us? Is there no distinction between empty formality religion and genuine born again transforming Christianity? How does the world see me and what I profess? What I live, what I've become?



As I watched, I also was encouraged. I saw a worldview that clearly grasped the power of relationship. I was challenged by it. How can we bring the greatest relationships, the truly transforming relationship with God and his body the church? How can we bring the eternal relationship to those who are endlessly seeking? How can we introduce a loving life-giving God to a world desperate for that very relationship?