Knowing How it Works

When I was a kid I remember asking my dad to explain how things worked. How does an automobile engine start just because I turn this key? What exactly happens when I flip the switch on/off so that a lamp gives off light? I recognized that I was obviously taking part in a mystery, but I was curious how my small action (turning a key, flipping a switch) could be part of something bigger and grander than what I could accomplish on my own.

I have that same curiosity for spiritual matters, especially when the Bible says things like, "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) I am called to work as God does a work in me. It's a mystery that Eugene Peterson has articulated better than most. A recent book of his is entitled, "Practice Resurrection" (the title I borrowed for this blog). He feels this captures the paradox of participating in something we can't accomplish on our own. Dead people don't resurrect themselves. It must be done to them and for them, like Jesus did for Lazarus, like the Holy Spirit does for everyone who is dead in their sins. And yet this new life in Jesus is something we are called to participate in. We are not to be complacent or lazy or disconnected from what God, in Christ, is doing in us. We practice resurrection.

I am experiencing a growing passion to find clear, concise ways of talking about how this works. The danger I want to avoid is trying to reduce this profound mystery to a series of "how-to" steps. But I also think if we are going to participate and work out our salvation with fear and trembling, we need to know what we are called to do. Hopefully this blog will enable me to think about this out loud while receiving some ideas and constructive criticism.