The words were right there; I stared at them and read them again. Seemed like they were in bold print, “… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” I felt like God was talking to me!
I was young, maybe ten or eleven years old, when that phrase from the Bible grabbed my attention. I didn’t get the real meaning for a while; I didn’t even see the rest of Philippians chapter two, just that part of verse twelve. I read the words “work out” as a challenge, like a math problem, and thought I needed to figure it out, to work out the real meaning of salvation, to understand it! So, not even realizing the importance of that decision, I started on my own personal life-time journey to figure it out! At that young age, I know now that my attempt was shallow, and my understanding was immature, and I know that I’ve stumbled many times along the way, but that really was the first “big” decision of my spiritual journey. No matter how young you are or how old you are, God will come to you and speak to you on your own level; He will meet you right where you are!
That verse became a rule to guide me as I tried to learn and understand everything I could about God and what it means to be a Christian. Instead of just doing what I was told or believing what someone else told me to believe, I decided that God wanted me to figure things out for myself. I wanted to know for myself what I believed and why I believed it! I wanted to learn for myself what the Bible said and what it really means. I wanted God’s Word to work its way into every part of my life so that I could actually live as a Christian in every part of my life to the very best of my ability. I was very serious when I asked God to help me “work out my own salvation”! And nearly sixty years later, I am still trying, still learning, still attempting to actually work out in real life the things I learn!
Everything is About God 