Below, dear ones, is a guest post from my dear sister Lauren Bronner, writer of the RedeemedMamaSavedbyGrace blog. She was so kind as to fill in for me today while I work on packing. We’ll be heading out to the next assignment this weekend, please pray for my family, and enjoy this wonderful article! Thank you, Lauren, you are wonderful!
Salvation
This week my husband and I had the privilege and honor to interview Pastor Allen Nelson on our new podcast The Chuck and Lo Show. Pastor Allen Nelson is the author of the book, “From Death to Life.” The interview was a real treat and I hope you find it encouraging. “From Death to Life” dives into a topic that can make some of us uncomfortable. Talking about our salvation can be sobering. I’ve struggled with being assured of my salvation. There were times where it kept me up all night. My closest friends know that I’ve struggled. When we finally understand, as much as our human minds can, who God is and when we realize how undeserving we are to think that he would offer us the free gift of salvation we struggle.
Now while we who are saved should have assurance, sometimes we don’t and there is a reason for that. Some can have a false assurance–the false belief that you are going to heaven when you’re not. When we do a spiritual examination and see how we measure up, it is clear that we fall short. We are filled with sinful thoughts and desires. Our tongues gossip and tear people down. We lust after others. That is who we are at the very core. That doesn’t give us much hope, does it?
Another reason I have questioned my assurance is when I struggle constantly with the same sins. It can be very discouraging to wonder whether you are truly saved.
Romans 7:15 “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
You may struggle because you don’t “feel” saved. However, feelings are unreliable and inconsistent. Feelings may help give us an idea of a possible underlying issue but they are not to be held over God’s word. What if God had feelings like us humans? What if he had a bad day, and was stuck in traffic? Imagine that His day went downhill from there and He was moody and snapped at us a bit. That would be terrible. We don’t serve a God like that.
Sometimes we do question our assurance in our salvation, and rightfully so. We think we can earn our salvation, and that can cause us to doubt.
We are always going to sin while we live in this fallen world. I think it demeans the work on the cross when we think more about the sin then think to think about Jesus.
Those thoughts can cause depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety take you away from the joy Christians should have.
Martin Luther once said, “All heaviness of mind and melancholy come from the devil: especially these thoughts that God is not gracious unto him; that God will have no mercy upon him, etc.”
There is nothing abnormal about a bit of doubt. We are unworthy of this free gift given to us and we know it. I believe Satan rejoices when he sees our shaky assurance in salvation.
It is important to know that there is a difference between condemnation and conviction. You feel helpless with condemnation, at least I have felt as if there was no hope. Conviction brings your sin to the spotlight and results in the desire to repent.
We need to test ourselves …. We don’t ever want to hear The Lord say, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!’ ” Matthew 7:22-23
You have to have a clear understanding of who God is, and what his word says to have a true understanding of what real assurance is.
“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” John 10:28-29
As believers, we need to trust what scripture says. What scripture says is what God says so we know it’s true. We don’t question God’s word or lack assurance in it so we shouldn’t do that with our salvation. We need to trust and believe that what Jesus did on the cross is ENOUGH. We should not try and take credit for anything Jesus did on the cross. We can’t. He did that alone. When we question our salvation we minimize the work Christ accomplished on the cross. As believers, we are walking in the light. We are no longer the walking dead. Even when we feel doubt we need to trust in God’s faithfulness. Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”
We can have assurance through Jesus Christ. “It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began — to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus” 2nd Timothy 1:9
Tulips & Honey 