Very few people fear God these days. How tragic! How tragic for them!! They don’t realize and acknowledge in their lives that God is real, that He is all powerful, that we are accountable to Him, that it is most important to obey Him, and that each and everyone of us will give an account to Him where those who have ignored and rejected Him will face eternal punishment.

But what about believers … followers of Jesus? Getting saved is just the start. God’s Word says that “to whom much is given much is required”. The salvation that God provides for us did not come cheap. It cost God His very life and extreme physical suffering. We can’t earn it. All we can do and all God asks us to do is to totally commit our lives to Him, obey Him, respect Him, live for Him, and serve Him. In doing so we will please Him. We need to be reminded that God told us to fearfully work out our salvation with trembling. That means to take our salvation seriously and not play games. We are never to take advantage of God’s grace. God has even said that if we are not fully committed and living for Him … if we are “lukewarm” He will spit us out. Ouch!!

That is scary and it is meant to be. No, God is serious and He is not playing games with us. He deserves, expects and requires His children to obey Him. That doesn’t mean one, two or even three strikes and we are out. God looks at our hearts. He knows we are still capable of sinning and has provided for a weak moment. He simply tells us that if and when we sin to acknowledge our sin, repent of it and ask for forgiveness. We need to be sensitive to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. We need to have a close relationship with God’s Spirit. He will help us to live the Christian life. We need to be very respectful of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Afterall, He is God. We need always to remember that. We serve a good God. There is no one else like Him. Remember with obedience comes blessing.

BTW, “working out our salvation” does not mean that we are or can do anything to earn it or work for it. It simply means that we trust and obey and do our part while God does the rest.