Blessed Assurance

Assurance is any issue that many Christians wrestle with. How do I know that I am truly saved? Perhaps this question surfaces less now then it did say among the Puritans of the 17th and 18th centuries. But it is still on the mind of many believers nonetheless. How do I know that I am really a Christian?

1 John 2 tells us the basis of our assurance. Verses 3-6 say: "And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says 'I know him' but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked" (ESV). John says that obedience is the key to assurance. This is very different than how some teach it. Many will say: "Did you pray a prayer? Do your remember a moment when you asked Jesus to be your Savior?" Certainly there is no salvation without faith, but a single moment of prayer is not the bedrock of our assurance. Assurance is found in a life lived like Jesus.

Obviously, none of us are going to obey completely (see 1 John 1 again). But there should be patterns in our lives of living and acting like Christ. John points out three types of works in particular that contribute to the assurance of our faith:

1. loving our fellow Christians (verse 10)

2. not loving the world and its ways and desires (verses 15-17)

3. not tolerating false teaching (verses 18-27).

As we follow Jesus, may we receive the assurance that only Jesus can give.