Every Wednesday, I try to share something
inspiring that I have read online within the last week.
Today, i take a break from the series on falsehood to present the weekly round-up. Personally, if I had
the right, I would have reprinted the lead article word-for-word. This is
because I believe that the topic is one that many Christians encounter from
time to time, either personally or in answering other people’s questions.
Justin
Taylor of the gospel coalition ‘reprinted’ a post that I am glad to reprint-albeit
in an abridged version. Please try to read the details here.
It is very important that you do.
1. Assurance
of Salvation—Is It Possible?
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It is possible, for the Christian to experience
assurance of salvation.
It is possible, for a non-Christian to have a false
assurance of salvation.
2. Having
Doubts about Your Salvation
It is possible, indeed normal, for Christians to
have occasional doubts about their salvation. The causes of doubt are many:
·
Spiritual immaturity may contribute to doubts about
assurance.
·
Sensitivity to sin may cause confusion about
assurance.
·
Comparison with other Christians may cloud
assurance.
·
Childhood conversion affects the assurance of some.
3. The Basis
of Assurance
The assurance of salvation rests primarily on
·
the character of God
·
the works of Jesus Christ
·
the truth of God’s promises
4. An Inner
Confirmation
Assurance may be experienced partly through the
inner confirmation of the Holy Spirit.
How does the Holy Spirit give Christians this
assurance?
·
He opens our minds to understand the Bible in ways
that give us assurance.
·
He guides our thinking about the biblical marks of
salvation in our lives.
·
He brings Scripture and its truths to our minds in
various ways that assure us.
·
He causes an inner sense of assurance without
words.
5. Signs of
Eternal Life
Assurance may be experienced partly through the
presence of the attitudes and actions the Bible says will accompany salvation
[1 John].
·
Do you share the intimacies of the Christian life
with other believers?
·
Do you have a deep awareness of your sin against
the word and love of God?
·
Do you live in conscious obedience to the word of
God?
·
Do you despise the world and its ways?
·
Do you long for the return of Jesus Christ and to
be made like him?
·
Do you habitually do what is right more and sin
less?
·
Do you love other Christians sacrificially and want
to be with them?
·
Do you discern the presence of the Holy Spirit
within you?
·
Do you enjoy listening to the doctrines the
apostles of Jesus taught?
·
Do you believe what the Bible teaches about Jesus
Christ?
6. A
Spiritual Mind-set
Only those who are spiritually minded are
Christians.
You are spiritual minded when you think about the
things of God:
You are not spiritually minded if “God is not in
all [your] thoughts.”
7. Things
That Erode Our Assurance
A true Christian may lose a sense of assurance of
salvation because . . .
·
he or she refuses to deal with known sin
·
of spiritual laziness
·
of satanic attacks
·
of trials or harsh circumstances
·
of illness or temperament
·
God seems to withdraw a sense of his presence and
blessing.
8. Common
Problems with Uncertainty
Those converted as children, without adult or
dramatic conversions do not.
Stay-at-home mothers of young children may experience special
difficulties with assurance.- I am wondering why this is true.
Those worried about the unforgivable sin have not
committed it- Boy, am I glad to hear this!
9. False
Assurance of Salvation
Sources of a false assurance of salvation
·
A public commitment or outward response to the
gospel
·
Baptism
·
Involvement with church
·
A strong Christian family heritage
·
An abundance of good deeds
·
An extraordinary experience
·
A dramatic personal or lifestyle change
·
Material blessing and financial security
·
A false understanding of God
·
A false understanding of sin and hell
Characteristics of the falsely assured
·
They are either unconcerned or angry when warned
about false assurance.
·
They are either legalistic or loose with spiritual
disciplines and duties.
·
They are either very weak in or very confident of
their Bible knowledge.
·
They have either a vicarious Christianity or an
overly independent spirit.
·
They may be constantly resisting the truth or never
able to come to the truth.
10. What to
Do If You’re Still Not Sure
Don’t take for granted that you
understand the gospel.
Think deeply about the gospel.
Repent of all known sin.
Submit everything to the Lordship
of Christ.
Meditate much on 1 John.
Don’t doubt the promises of God.
Believe as best you can and pray
for greater faith.
Practice the spiritual
disciplines.
If you really love God, take
assurance because non-Christians don’t love God passionately.
If you hate your sin, take
assurance because non-Christians don’t hate sin deeply.
If you’ve never been baptized,
present yourself as a candidate in obedience to Christ.
Seek godly counsel if the doubts
persist.
Pray for assurance.
Wait patiently upon God to give
you a fuller experience of assurance.
Here are other posts worth considering
·
Where
Did The Bible come from: This post gives a general overview of the origin
of our Faith manual. I like how it combines faith with history. This post helps
us to know that ‘For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known
unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty- 2Peter
1:16
·
Expecting
a marriage to complete you: This is a post many singles ought to read. We sometimes
set ourselves up for huge disappointments by ‘over-expecting’ things from other
people. I sincerely think that many of us have our hopes on a marriage that
will make all the pain go away. Dear friend, except you are thinking of the
marriage of the lamb; where you and I are the bride and Jesus is the groom, you
are about to be disappointed. No marriage to any human will make life
completely perfect. Life will be brighter, fuller and happier (with the right
spouse), but never perfect.
·
I stumbled on another Nigerian Christian blog and I
think it is very good. Here is the link: http://www.samadelspeaks.blogspot.com/
What have you found inspiring online this
week? Please drop a note in the comments section.
Enjoy
the rest of your week.
PS: The aim of Wednesday weekly rounds is
to share with you things I came across online and found useful. It could also
be a way of saying that “if I can’t share it on this platform”, I should
rethink reading it.
Would you be able to freely share what you
have been reading online in the past week? If you consider it inappropriate to
be shared amongst believers, maybe you shouldn’t be reading it to start with.
PPS: The
usual disclaimer: I am not affiliated or
endorsing the people mentioned in this post. As you know, they are waaaayyyy
out of my league J
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