Assurance of Being God’s child

The first thing I read after opening my online Bible was, ‘How can I know I’m a Christian?” My first thought was, “If you don’t know, you likely aren’t.”

Most people know what they believe. Yes, there are worry warts, and Satan lies to us with whispered thoughts such as, “Look what you did. How can you be a Christian?” And others will point to our weaknesses with the same question, but God says this:

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)
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, (John 1:12)

The Word of God says it. Those who know what it says either believe it or not. However, if a Christian is not reading the Word, assurance will likely go missing. This indicates a better question could be, “If I am a Christian, why am I not reading this book from God?”

He does tell His people to “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22) This indicates another question: Am I convinced of sin and confessing those things that bother my conscience? If not, then true faith could be missing.

Being a Christian involves putting my faith in Jesus Christ. What then is faith? God says:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Faith is that inner ‘I just know’ that this Word of God is true. I was not at Calvary, but I know that Jesus died. I did not see the empty tomb, but I just know that it is empty and that Jesus is alive. I also have assurance, based on the promises of God, that Jesus died for my sin and all are forgiven. It is an inner thing, not based on present performance or the swarm of doubts that come when the God who is good allows me to suffer. It is based on what Jesus did, not what I do.

Perhaps that is the biggest test: what do I base ‘being a Christian’ on? What I do, or what God has done?

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Am I His workmanship (verse 10) or am I looking at my lack of works and thinking I am not good enough? No one is ‘good enough’ otherwise Jesus would not have needed to die.

One more question: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2:14–15) If that fear of death is overwhelming, it may be that way because there is no assurance that Jesus conquered it.

And that assurance is not an outward thing but comes from the Holy Spirit. If He lives in me, He tells me who I am:

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:15–17)

Personal sin, Satan’s lies, and suffering can take eyes and hearts off what God has done and rob His children of their assurance of being His children, but the salvation of God is more powerful than all three of those negative S’s. If the human  heart is not responding to His Spirit, then it is vital to get down on those knees and talk to the Lord.

PRAY: Jesus, I’ve no idea how many are duped into thinking they are believers but are not, or how many are believers but without assurance. You know how to right all errors and bring doubters to the truth. Today I pray for those whose assurance or lack of it is messing with their minds. May they hear and know truth and be set free from crippling doubts.

Update: Our granddaughter is home. She is cheerful and clear-headed, but looks like a train hit her. Black eyes, bruises all over, a smashed foot, broken arm and broken kneecap that looks terrible, but she is joyful and thankful to be alive, spared, and in many prayers.

How to be what I already am...

 

When my first child was born, I became a mother. I acted like a mother, never once thinking that I was the former person without a child. Even if that happened, this little hungry and helpless person reminded me of my new status.

When I became a Christian, God gave me a new nature. At that point, I had a new status, but unlike being a mother, I continually struggled to act like that new person. I constantly forgot what I now had in Christ. My only reminders came through reading the Bible and having edifying fellowship with other Christians. Without that and the work of the Holy Spirit, it was easy to drop back into thinking as I always had, and living out those old habits. This is why the NT says:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16–17)

Walking in the Spirit requires only two things on my part: confessing known sin, and asking God to fill me with Himself. After that, all the attitudes and desires of my heart come from Him. He gave me the mind of Christ to think as He thinks, and the Spirit to work in me like a hand in a glove so doing His will becomes a way of life — not a continual sense of ‘I must do this…’ The Bible calls it “abiding in Christ” and this brings wonderful freedom. It cannot happen to those who determine to run their own life or even play a part in their salvation. This is the Lord’s doing, not mine.

There was a time after meeting Christ when I knew what I should be doing or thinking, but it was not happening. I could not choose the right way to live — and had to learn to yield to the Spirit. He supplied and secured the steadfast obedience I sought after; it was not my determination, only my confession of not being able. It was like I could not act like a mother unless I became a mother.

All that God wants is given to His children in the work of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. That old nature cannot do it, even choose it, apart from His grace. Today’s reading says our problem is lack of consecration or lack of trust, yet both of these are given to us in Christ in our redemption.

The reading also says that it is not the strength of our enemies or our own weakness that causes us to fall. Not sure what is meant by “our own weakness” but I do know my weakness is human pride that rises up to try and rule my life rather than letting the Lord take me where He wants me to go. I’m my own worst enemy in that my old life thinks I can do well without Him. It is total foolishness when compared with the wonder of Almighty God and what He can do in a person who has Him in their heart. Like a mom cannot ignore her new baby, He does not ignore His children.

PRAY: Jesus, You make the Christian life possible, just as You make becoming a mother possible. I need You to be saved and to walk in Your Spirit. I need You to expose the desires of the flesh, particularly because they often seem like noble desires. However, You say: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4) This is so true — the more I delight in You, the more You pour into me the desires of Your heart, far better than my old desires, no matter how good they might seem. How amazing is Your grace!

Growing older means becoming a baby . . .

 

The NT often speaks of Christians as God’s children. Jesus even said that becoming as a child was vital to being part of His family. A mature believer can be child-like in their faith, transparent and trusting to the point that others might think that person is simple-minded or not very intelligent. God measures our maturity differently than the world measures it! As the Bible says:

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

Those who do not know Jesus cannot understand the child-like faith of those who do. Our values are different, as are our desires and our experience of the Lord. We have . . .

 . . . put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, (1 Peter 2:1–4)

One lie of Satan is that God is not good, but His people have had a taste and know better. Because of that, we want to know more and that knowledge comes from drinking in truth about Him from His Word, wanting it like a baby wants milk. The only thing that can ruin that desire is sin, sin from yielding to Satan’s lies.

I’ve found as I grow older that becoming child-like means becoming more dependent on my heavenly Father than on myself and my own ideas and abilities. This is a humbling process that involves embracing helplessness and as Paul wrote, being able to “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” and “for the sake of Christ” being “content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.” A child-like Christian learns that “when I am weak, then I am strong” even though the process seems quite the opposite of growing up. (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

As today’s devotional says, Scripture is our food, our source of spiritual growth. In it, we find the encouragement and comfort of God, direction and strength for life, yet also discover what needs to be ‘put to death’ of that old nature with its pride, self=promoting desires, and many of the qualities that the world admires. Spiritual growth turns out to be quite different than what most people would describe as maturity.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:6–7)

Not only does God work in me to be more like Him and more like the child who relies completely on his parents in wonderful child-like trust, He also wants me to cooperate with this process, as uncomfortable and even humiliating as it can be. Rooted in Christ means no other source of what I need except what He supplies, and not being anxious or afraid that He will not take care of me. It means being taught by Him, willing to listen and obey and most of all, being willing to read and study the textbook that my Teacher has supplied. It is going back to school to learn fundamentals, to review and review, to be tested and tested. And instead of complaining about all His ‘homework’ and the steepness of the learning curve, He wants me “abounding in thanksgiving.”

That reminds me also that our Thanksgiving Day is coming up and we usually give thanks for all the good things, the comforts of life. However, the Bible says such outlandish things as:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

In other words, He wants me to be abounding in thanksgiving for trials and faith-tests as well as the more pleasant parts of His blessings. I’m learning that the only way I can do that is by realizing, from His Word, how He uses all things for my good, to conform me into His image. All things, not just the feel-good stuff. If I stop reading and studying (or never bothered in the first place) I would be ignorant of the way He works and be like many who spend much of their time either trying to “fix” their life or complaining about how it could be better.

PRAY: Jesus, what can I say but thank You for the Bible. It is my milk, my bread, my link to Your heart so that You can reveal to me Your perfect will. No, not all of the ‘lessons’ You teach are fun and games, but they draw me to You and fill me with worship and thanksgiving. I must praise You and ask that You keep me hungry and thirsty to know You more and more.

PONDER: Consider all that the Word of God does by starting with Acts 20:32.