Assembly Required--words of fear

Many of us parents have a severe physical reaction to the words "assembly required". Earlier this year two dudes stole my children's basketball goal from our backyard in the middle of the day. They even took time to place a flag on the back of the goal before they drove away--beautiful isn't it?--safety conscious criminals, just what our world needs! Stop laughing. It's only funny when it happens to someone else.

Good news is that my kids grandparents bought them a new goal for Christmas. Bad news is, "Assembly is required" with the new goal. I hope they can shoot on an 11 foot rim:-) Some things come out of the box completely ready to go: Plug and play; aim and shoot; detag and wear. I love that stuff. In fact I'll buy a piece of furniture that I kind of like over the one I really like if the one that I kind of like is a display model already put together.

Unfortunately this same mentality can plague my spiritual life (maybe yours too?). I want a plug and play relationship with my heavenly Father, but like the basketball goal there is some assembly required. Paul said it this way to the Christians in Philippi: "...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling [Philippians 2:12]." Placing our trust in Jesus is the first step into a relationship with our heavenly Father not the final one. Maybe one of the "resolutions" that needs to make your list this year, is to continue the sometimes hard work of assembling (working out your salvation according to Paul)--your relationship with your heavenly Father through Jesus. It's worthy of the effort.