Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Holy and Assured




"All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."
Romans 8:14
 
 
Holiness is necessary for our assurance of salvation—not at the moment of salvation, but over the course of our lives. True faith will always show itself by its fruits. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

I recall a young man, a fairly new Christian, whose father was visiting him. He hadn't seen his father for several years and not since he'd become a Christian. He was eager to share his newfound faith with his dad, and we prayed together that he might be an effective witness to his father. 

Afterward I asked him how it had gone with his witness. He told me his dad claimed to have trusted Christ as his savior when he "went forward" at age ten in an evangelistic meeting. I asked the young man, "In all the years you were growing up, did you ever see any evidence your father was a Christian?" His answer was "no." What reason have we to put confidence in that man's salvation? He was almost sixty and had never once given his son any evidence that he was a Christian. 

The only safe evidence that we're in Christ is a holy life. John said everyone who has within him the hope of eternal life purifies himself just as Christ is pure (1 John 3:3). If we know nothing of holiness, we may flatter ourselves that we're Christians, but we don't have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. 

Everyone who professes to be a Christian should ask himself, "Is there evidence of practical holiness in my life? Do I desire and strive after holiness? Do I grieve over my lack of it and earnestly seek God's help to be holy?" (Excerpt taken from The Pursuit of Holiness)

The text for this devotional comes from the award-winning NavPress devotional book Holiness Day by Day by Jerry Bridges. For more information or to order a copy, visit the NavPress website.

What is the Church?

The Apostle Paul would whole-heartedly answer that question as the Body of Christ.   And I think that all of us would agree with him But ...