Paul in Philippians 2 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.”
How do you know that God is at work in you? Sometimes it doesn’t feel like God is at work. Sometimes you feel like a lifeless, stagnant pond growing moss and mold. Sometimes it feels like you’re making little or no progress with your sins, with your kids, with your parents, with your boss. It feels like you’re Pooh and Piglet going around in circles in the snow, and you’re not getting anywhere. Do you feel like that sometimes? God knows you feel like that, and so He gave you this meal. This meal is not from me. It’s from Jesus. At this meal Jesus promises to give His life to you. He promises to feed you with His everlasting, unbreakable, unperishing life. In other words, this meal is a standing contradiction to the feeling that you aren’t getting anywhere. Yes, you were at this table a week ago. You were fed with the body and blood of our Lord a week ago. But for that very reason, it’s impossible that you could be the same. You are working out your salvation, and you must do it yourself. No one else in this room can do it for you, but you are not alone. God is working in you with His good pleasure. And this bread and wine is His promise to you, His oath to you both that He is at work and that because your trust is in Christ, He is well pleased with you. So do not say you aren’t making any progress. Jesus is feeding you now. So just say thank you.
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