Thursday, December 18, 2014

December 18, 2014

Assurance is something that we all want; we hate it when we are uncertain. Many Christians nowadays see God's "inaction" as a source of doubt, which begs the question: Can we be sure that God is actually real? And if so, does He actually love us?

This past week we read about Jonah in the devotional. And Jonah can actually show us how we can be sure of God's role in our lives, though not in a way you might think. The Pharisees had doubts about Jesus similar to those we have today. When they asked Him to show them a sign, or a miracle, in Matthew 12:38, Jesus responded with these words: "An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. The men of Ninevah will stand up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah's proclamation; and look - something greater than Jonah is here!" Matthew 12:39-41

You see, when we need assurance of God's role in our lives, it is often because we are afflicted by pain or we cannot feel Him close. We can apply Jesus's response to the Pharisees to our lives by looking at what Jesus has ALREADY done as a sign for what HE WILL do. Its about thanking Him for all His providence and provision in our lives in hard times rather than complaining and asking Jesus if He really cares about us! 

Assurance comes through faith, and faith is something that we need to have in good and bad times. As Kevin often says, a strong faith required faithFULness. That means that we need to stay loyal and loving towards Jesus, even when He doesn't seem close!! The Bible offers many promises of God's proximity; but our current situation often desensitizes our spiritual senses to "feeling God". Pain blinds us from seeing Jesus because it demands all our attention, and the same goes for doubt and idols in our lives.

2 Timothy 2:13 gives us a GREAT promise of God's faithfulness to us, so we can be assured of His love for us! It says that "...when we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." And because of God's faithfulness towards us, we should mirror that towards Him! Be thankful God doesn't start asking if you exist or actually love Him when you aren't close to Him! His perfect faithfulness can be a model for us, even if we can never be perfect. Its an act of love on display if we choose Jesus when its hard, and God is all about love and building relationships with us!


So, if we need faithfulness to remain assured of our faith, how can we keep the doubt from creeping back into our lives? First of all, reading your Bible is a great tool. Psalm 23, among many many other Psalms, speak of God's provision in hard times and how He is always there for us! Prayer is another great way to stay faithful. Even if your prayers bounce off the ceiling, and you don't feel like God has even heard, you are wrong. God HAS heard. And by reaching out to Jesus, you are showing that you love Him and need Him in your life! This is a measure of faithfulness. Lastly, perhaps the best way to fend off doubts and remain faithful is to remember what God has already done for us, just like Jesus's example of Jonah! Many say history repeats itself, but I would like to argue that God's promises are constant and so its His faithfulness towards US that makes it appear as if history were repeating itself. And because God's promises remain constant, we can look back on our past trials and see how God carried us through them, knowing that He will carry us through them again in the future!! If we remain faithful to Him, our faith will become sight when He reveals Himself and His plan to us in His timing. But until we reach the end of this rocky road, we'll keep on relying on His past promises for our future salvation from this present affliction. And THAT is assurance of our faith!

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