For the longest time, after returning to the church and, I struggled with a question or rather a doubt. Like one of those ankle biting dogs that just keeps nipping after you, so did this nagging doubt.
“How did I know that I was a Christian?”
I wanted to be confident in knowing who I was in Christ and at that time, I wasn’t sure. And I have a feeling that I’m not the only one who has shared the same doubt. There’s a really complex solution to dispelling the doubt! Are you ready for this?
The Bible tells us so!
I know – profound right? But seriously, it’s that easy. The Word of God speaks loud and clear its message of love and fills us with such a confidence of who we are in Christ. Listen to what John says in his first Epistle.
1 John 2:3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
1 John 2:4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
1 John 2:5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him:
1 John 2:6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
John uses the phrase “by this we know” many times over. It’s a phrase that indicates a sure confidence. We can be confident of who we are in Christ when we are obedient and responsive to the commands of the Holy Spirit. “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” We can know, in confidence, that we belong to Him, when we keep His Word (Bible)!
Now there’s a lot in the Bible. Keeping His Word isn’t memorizing from Genesis to Revelation and it isn’t following a bunch of rules because you have to. Keeping His Word is as simple as this: We love God. And out of that love for God we develop a deep desire to obey Him and respond to Him, not because we have to, but out of love for a perfect God that accepts an imperfect human…perfectly! We choose to obey Him because we want to.
By this we know that we can be confident of who we are in Him when we are obedient and responsive to Him!
