BelovedSample

FEELING SURE OF GOD’S LOVE

If you were to die today, are you sure you would go to heaven? How sure? Seventy percent? Eighty percent? Ninety percent? And is that enough for you?

We’re talking about the difference between experiencing the wrath of God for our sins eternally or experiencing perfect peace, joy, love, and pleasure forever. I am willing to bet that, if you are brutally honest, you have doubts about your salvation.

There are many reasons for insecurity as a believer, including these:

• Past experience—Even if you believe that God loves you as a Father, that concept may be foreign to you if you did not grow up in the security of a loving home.
• Continual sin—Sometimes our patterns of wrongdoing cause us to feel distant from God, even though He hasn’t moved.
• Cynicism—If you are mistrustful by nature, then when you hear that God is rich in mercy, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, it sounds too good to be true.

Whatever is causing you to wrestle with doubt, there is great news for you!

We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (1 John 4:16-18 ESV)

Picture yourself like a toddler cuddling in the arms of a perfectly loving father, completely protected from any possible harm. This is God’s desire for you.

Resting in the love of God frees us from all insecurity and leads us into a lifetime of joyful, worship obedience.

Prayer: “God, lead me into the perfect love that removes all fear of judgment.”