Assurance
How are you assured of any thing? Unless you are very naïve, you will probably want to do some research and check the facts. How would you determine what constitutes a fact? Well, you would probably look to trustworthy witnesses to the event or claim in question. If I was looking to verify the health benefits claimed by some new product I might seek out peer reviewed results of several credible lab studies. I would look for honest reviews of people who had used the product and give special attention to any feedback from longstanding trusted friends.
If the evidence resulting from these and other avenues of verification supported the product’s claims your faith in the product would grow. You might decide to act on this confidence by shelling out the money required to obtain the product to try it for yourself. If it works, you will be happy, or at least content. You might even begin to tell others… sharing this good news with excitement.
Three components are to be noted in this process of assurance: FACTS, FAITH, and FEELINGS. The feelings always come last and are personal. They have nothing to do with the veracity of the claim.
In fact, neither does your personal faith in the product or claim influence its inherent truthfulness or untruthfulness. There are still people in this world who refuse to believe the world is round and insist instead that it is flat! But the facts, in fact, are the sole and bedrock thing. Gravity doesn’t care whether or not you believe in it.
And so it is with assurance of salvation. Repeatedly the apostles proclaimed, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Jesus said “He that believes on me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). [See also John 3:16, 36; 5:24.] Paul’s great summary of the gospel states “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9).
As Jesus said to Martha “Whoever lives by believing in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:26). Your answer to that question determines everything. Feelings are a variable adjunct!
Press on…
Got a question? Use the Contact page and send It to me. We’ll search the Word for God’s answer.
thebrokenrunner 