Philippians 2:12-13, 15, 30 NIV says, “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….so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky because he almost died for the work of Christ……He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.” https://bible.com/bible/111/php.2.12-30.NIV

This Christian life is a constant work of faith. It is climbing the difficult path that few are on. It is God working in us while we cooperate with Him to use us and shape us into His image, just as He used His Son to save us. Our work is not for our salvation. That work was accomplished by Jesus, Whose road was paved with suffering. Our work is dying to self so that the life of Jesus may be increasingly more visible through us. As Jesus humbled Himself before the Father, becoming a servant of men so that He could become the Savior of all men, so too Christians must humble themselves before the Spirit of God, Who is using the Word of God to make us holy and pure, blameless in a world of rebellion against God so that Whose we are is obvious to everyone. This means humbling ourselves before God and man to elevate Jesus, the Son of Man, before all men, even at the cost of our lives. Living like Jesus will cost us our lives, a life of self-fulfillment, self-absorption, and self-centeredness. The work of God in us is seeking to kill the selfish man in order to raise up the new man within us who looks like Jesus in every way. We must cooperate with this work by making choices that defer to others and to the work of God over our own fleshly desires. This deference to others is for moving others toward Christ, not leaving men in their sin, but encouraging men to leave sin and follow Jesus in all holiness and righteousness even as we model such a life. Hard work indeed!