Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Your Relationship with God is Secure!

Welcome back. Last month we started an important journey on what the Bible says about wellbeing. Last week we considered the vital topic of entering the gateway to receiving improved Biblically based wellbeing:  by faith in Christ’s forgiveness for your sins by his death on the cross. By his gracious sacrifice, God sees you as without fault and completely accepted by him (Ephesians 2:7-9, Romans 3:21-25, Romans 10:9).

What is the next step? This is also most important and it is to realize that as a Christian you are SECURE in your relationship with God. Why is this critical? We cannot grow in our faith and serve others well if we lack confidence God that accepts us.

The Bible itself makes a great example in Ephesians 5:20-33. In this fascinating letter the Apostle Paul likens the relationship between Christ and the church (individual believers) to marriage. In the same way a married couple will find it difficult to grow in their love, intimacy and confidence in each other if they fear their partner will reject them, so a Christian will find it next to impossible to grow in the love of God if they fear His repudiation.

Likewise our loving God, who made and understands us, knows we cannot grow in His love without the confidence that He will not reject us. Wow, this seems incredible! How can we know this from Scripture? There are three basic arguments:

·       Direct statements. Scripture says it directly in a number of verses (I Peter 1:3-5, John 10:27-31 and Romans 8:28-39).

·       Position. Because of our salvation we have unchangeable positions before God.

o   We are declared legally innocent; as in a court of law this cannot be overturned (Romans 3:21-25)!

o   We are legally adopted as God’s children (Ephesians 1:5).

o   We are sealed by the Holy Spirit to salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14; II Corinthians 5:5).

o   We are baptized by the Holy Spirit, being made like Christ in his death and resurrection. Therefore, we are a new person in Christ, a change that cannot be undone (Romans 6:2-9)!

·       Perseverance. God causes us to persevere through our life unto salvation not by our own stamina (II Timothy 1:12, Philippians 1:6, I Thessalonians 5:23).

What great promises! Because of our faith in Christ we are a new person who cannot be unmade, with legally unchangeable promises that guarantee our salvation. This comfort and confidence allows us to invest ourselves in knowing and serving within a wonderful relationship with God.  We should not be burdened with guilt and worry over the status of God’s acceptance of us.

Everyone wants security! Next time we will continue our discussion security and how it relates to guilt.

Thank you as always for joining me I'm honored that you would read my blog.

WC Stewart


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