12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
It doesn't say "work for" your salvation - because there is nothing that we ourselves can do to achieve salvation, but it does say to "work out" your salvation - this involves using the resources that God has given us to grow spiritually and to live an overcoming life, as we "work out", as someone would do in a gym or a weight room. God is working in us, so that He might be exalted through us, which pleases Him. I believe the Lord calls us to do and be our very best, and we have access to His mighty power!
Hebrews 12 gives us the challenge to pursue God's best, to walk lives of excellence:
1b since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
I was in my hometown yesterday, and adorning the front page of the local paper was a gold medalist who attended one of my rival high schools, then made the journey, like I did, to Knoxville to run track at the University of Tennessee, where he challenged the records of UT great Willie Gault.
His name is Aries Merritt, and his words on Twitter following the gold medal in the 110 meter hurdles caught my attention:
Words can't even explain how I feel right now! Giving God all the glory. Thanks to all that supported and believed in me.One of those people was his mother, who was quoted by Examiner.com as saying:
"I said, 'You have that gift, natural gift, of speed, and you can do it. You've got to believe in yourself that, "I can accomplish this." God gave you the gift. So embrace it, and you can go forward, you can really go fast.'"Well, Aries' approaching to hurdling can be instructive for us as we determine in our hearts to pursue Christ's best, to grow spiritually, and face face the hurdles of life. David Epstein of SI.com wrote this:
Sprint hurdlers are like miniature figurine enthusiasts: obsessing over the minutia is part of the gig. So it's no surprise that Aries Merritt found something wrong with his semifinal run of the 110-meter hurdles, which he did in 12.94 seconds, the fastest non-final ever. "There were little technical errors," Merritt said as he walked beneath Olympic stadium. "A collision with someone." The "collision" appeared to be little more than a brushing of arms between men who drifted to the side of their lanes. But when you paint figurines or run the high hurdles, you sweat the small stuff. And sweating the small stuff paid off in gold for Merritt on Wednesday night, when he ran 12.92 in the final for gold -- the first for U.S. men on the track -- ahead of American Jason Richardson (13.04). "I worked really hard for this moment, Merritt said, and yet it was another race he described as imperfect.He was quoted as saying: "I don't think the race was perfect," he said afterward. "That's the hurdles, you don't always have the perfect race."
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