"Blameless" -2

"Wherefore, my beloved, as ye 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: for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12 & 13) You see, the point that Paul was making in his statement to the Philippians was one about being blameless in the church, as a believer in Jesus Christ, and as a representative of the Love of God. In my Bible, the caption above this portion of Scripture beginning with verse twelve reads, Work Out Your Own Salvation, which, in the context of what Paul is saying, would be like the meaning to the Sunday School song about clapping your hands if you know it, and your life will surely show it. As a child of God, we are held to a standard which must shine forth as a light in the world as to what it means to be a Christian. And, in case we might have forgotten, to be a Christian means to be Christ-like; which means that we are to be an example of who Christ was; which, if we are to examine His movement here in the flesh, He was one that put others first. It is a little more complex than that, but that is the general picture of what was His motivation to the cross. Where we tend to pick up blame is when we move contrary to that practice of putting others first, and look out for our own best interest before that of others. Jesus was pretty clear about this manner of living out His love when He spoke about the sheep and the goats. It is not so much the sin which one might commit in the absence of others, but the reality of who we are in Christ, and that we know it; and because we know it, there is a natural working that God does in us, because our will is conformed to His will. It really comes down to the fruit of the Spirit and the way we put forth the Love of God for one another. This is more real than you might think... "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He shall sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left." (Matthew 25:31-33)