assurance of forever

  Confidence makes all the difference.  When it comes to sports...to our work...our family...our relationships with friends...

Confidence makes the difference between expectation and reality.  How do we gain confidence that we have secured living forever.  And how important is that confidence...that assurance...to living effectively and purposefully here and now?

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When we have personally said "Yes" to Jesus' sacrifice and personally endorsed what he did on the cross...it is very much like endorsing a check that has been made out to you.  As an analogy, you cannot convert a check that has been made out to you until you sign your name to it.  When Jesus died on the cross He was sending you a check worth eternal life for you and made out to your name.  However, you must sign your name...personally endorse this transaction to convert to reality.

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And  then you will live the rest of your life here and transition there to the heavenly dimension...forever changed.  But you can expect to stumble at times...you can expect to have doubts...you can question whether anything has actually changed.

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You need the confidence of "assurance" of your salvation...like finding the records of the cancelled check to prove that the transaction took place.  When it comes to this assurance...this confidence...we do better to rest on God's promise than our feelings.

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Here are a few of my favorite assurance verses:

1 John 5:12-14

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  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.  And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

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It is critical to, more than "think" we have eternal life...We need to "know" we do!

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blessings,

Rob Smith