Reassurance

For many of our readers, tomorrow is a day that is meant to reflect on what we are thankful for. I am sure the blessings in this last year have been many; some big and some small and we often overlook how many blessings we have. However, I am just as sure that the challenges have also been innumerable as well. And as we are faced with these challenges, what is it that allows us to hold fast to our faith? When we are faced with those who wish to deny us the joy and comfort found in following Jesus, how do we remain assured in Him? The answer is that we can remain steadfast in our faith because we know that nothing can separate us from God, and it is not by our own doing but by the unchanging nature of God Himself!

“16 For people swear an oath by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath serving as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to demonstrate to the heirs of the promise the fact that His purpose is unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and reliable and one which enters within the veil,”

Hebrews 6:16-19 

It is here that we can find assurance in our salvation. There is nothing greater than God, and so He can only make an oath on Himself. God has promised that nothing can take us away from Him, a promise we know by Jesus Christ’s own words. “27 My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29 We can rest assured that God did not make this promise without the capability to fulfill it. God is unchanging, He cannot go against Himself, nor can He lie. We can hold fast to our assurance in salvation based on God’s merit. And that is a comforting thought! If our salvation was based on ourselves, we would be continually wondering if we are “good enough” but God’s answer to us is that while we are not “good enough” His Son, Jesus Christ, is and it is through His sacrifice that we have been reconciled to God! Our hope and strength comes from an infallible God. A God who we can rely on to keep His promises, not because of anything that we have done but because that is who He is!

Seek the truth and encourage one another,

Alex