Know You're Saved

I believe that those of us in the Church of Christ have reacted a little too extremely to some things. We see the people who claim to have the Holy Spirit acting all crazy so some of us have decided to deny the fact that the Holy Spirit lives in us. We see people getting caught up in emotional hype instead of true worship so we forget what a true passion for God in worship looks like. But the problem I want to address today is our reaction to the "once saved, always saved" doctrine.

I'm not going to argue for or against this doctrine here. There are many scriptures you could use to argue either side. What I want to talk about is the effect this teaching has had on many of us Christians who don't believe this to be true. You see, so many of us believe we can lose our salvation, and I believe we can as well, but because of this belief we act as if we have no confidence at all. I hear the way people talk and pray; they say things like, "I hope I'll get to heaven when I die." Or they say ,"I hope I've been a good and faithful servant." It's a wonder we can even sing Blessed Assurance on Sundays.

1 John is one of my favorite books. It's so rich with great themes like love, walking in light, giving up sin, and assurance. In fact, at the end of his book he writes,

    I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
(1 John 5:13 ESV)

He says he writes these things for two reasons 1) so that we may believe in Christ and 2) so that we may know that we have eternal life. Did you catch that? He said we can KNOW that we're saved. We don't have to wonder, guess, or speculate, we can just know. Maybe it would be a good idea for more Christians to study this little book...

I want to direct your attention to just one other verse. In this verse he gives us a surefire way to know that we have salvation:

      And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
(1 John 2:28 ESV)

  It's simple really, just abide with Him. Stay close to Christ. Make your life all about Him and then you have no reason to wonder if your saved. If you love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you can have confidence that you won't be put to shame. If you devote yourself to following and abiding in Christ, than what do you have to fear?

So here's what I'd leave you with. Don't just be a casual fan. Don't be a lukewarm Christian. You can't abide in Christ and be complacent; it just doesn't work. So, if you want to be sure of your salvation, abide in Him. Give yourself fully and completely to Jesus Christ.