Cooperating With God

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13 NIV

Trust that God has everything under control and that the plans he has for you are beneficial. At the same time, we should realize that we must cooperate with those plans and be active participants in our success and our salvation. There is an old joke about a man needing to be rescued from a flood and praying for deliverance while up on the roof of his house. He turns away one rescuer after another, first turning away two boats, and then a helicopter, saying that he has faith that God will rescue him. The man is finally swept away by the rising waters and drowns. Upon entering heaven, he complains to God that he was expecting to be delivered by God from the rising waters, to which God replies “I sent two boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?” God works in the world through worldly means, and we should work in the same way to both effect our salvation and to bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth. We do this by acting charitably and loving our fellow man, and generally, obeying God’s law. It may not always be clear exactly what we need to do, but we almost always know when wearen’t doing the will of God. That is, when we are sinning, we almost always know it and the voice of God (i.e., our conscience) is clearest when we are not cooperating with God. –Christopher Simon