'Allow God's Good Purposes to be Fulfilled'

through such a wrenching time in society, our families, and our church. How are we going to address these emotionally charged issues when people are adamantly for their position and often think those who oppose their position are idiots or haters? We set ourselves up with a false choice: If I tell the person what I think I will lose that friend. If I don’t tell that person what I think, I will be frustrated, angry, and resentful. What if we could have an honest conversation and maintain the friendship? We can do that. It isn’t easy, but we can.

 God wants our friendships to flourish, yet they can be extremely difficult to work out. “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” (Phil 2:12-13). God has given us His will for our character and our interactions. He calls us to do our own inner work before we engage with others. He tells us to ‘work it out’. By the way, the implied subject called to ‘work it out’ is not just individual. It is communal. We are responsible for one another’s relational flourishing in God’s way. Are you trying to work it out or have you given up? Are you working it out or are you resigned to the idea that your relationship could never handle the conversation? How hard are we really working? Whatever we are doing “Continue to work out your salvation.” We only fail when we quit. We find ourselves in relations in unchartered territory we have never experienced and there is no manual for. BUT let’s continue to work out our communal salvation, for our salvation is tied up in one another.

 The second part of the passage gives us hope and the energy to keep working. ‘For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.’ (Phil 2:13). We can seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. We can ask forgiveness when we need to ask it and give forgiveness when we need to. We can pray with each other, cry with each other, and share with each other the weight of the relationship. As we strive to be faithful while working it out, God will work in you (individually and communally) for His good and beautiful purposes of full, loving, understanding relationships. We don’t have to be uniform in our thoughts to have a good relationship. We can even be on opposite sides of an emotional issue. We can still preserve our relationships as we allow God to work in us toward His greater good purposes. 

I believe that I am responsible to do everything I possibly can to foster good relationships. I believe God is committed to working out His good purposes in us, through us, and for us. Never give up, because God is doing more than we can think or imagine. He sees beyond the horizon to a new day. 

Seeking God's Kingdom

Jonathan