Saved or Not?
I rarely wade into the waters of theology. They’re deep and murky and it’s easy to run into “I know because I know.” Besides, there’s enough about the Bible I do understand to bother me without stirring up more controversial stuff.
One of the ‘eddys’ in the Christian river is salvation. How does one know he’s saved. Destined for eternity with Jesus vs. eternal separation from Him. That’s easy because Jesus told us straight up in John 3:16, right?
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
“God loved, God gave, I believe, I receive.” Done deal.
But then what happens? Someone who ‘gets it’, who returns God’s love to Him in worship, who serves the church and the poor, who obeys the law and the commandments, he’s not the point here so let’s give him a pass.
The guy who’s always troubled me is the one who disavows God; who not only turns his back but denies he ever knew or believed in him. Is he covered under ‘once saved always saved’?
The answer to this became obvious to me a few years back. If someone disavows God, he never knew him. Plain and simple. You can’t ‘un-know’ someone. Once you’ve met our beautiful Savior you never forget Him. If you deny Jesus, it’s because you never knew Him in the first place.
Then there’s those who go to church and call themselves “Christian’ but live like everyone else. I’ve heard people say “He can’t be put in a leadership position….he’s not even saved.” Wondered “How do you know?” How does anyone know the true spiritual status of anyone else? Many of us aren’t even totally sure of our own…
Matt Chandler gives us 4 questions to help us get clarity around our “status”.
1. Do you have any affection for God? Do you truly love Him? Do you see Him as majestic and worthy of worship? In a different category from anything else in this world? Or do you love the world and worldly stuff more? (1 John 2:15, Romans 8:5)
2. Do you love others? Are you self-absorbed? Is your life all about ‘me and mine’ without true concern for other people? (1 John 4:7-8, 1 John 3:14)
3. Do you habitually sin? Do you stumble into sin vs. planning sin or practicing sin? Do you ‘live in it’? Are you stuck in cycles of secret sin that own you? (1 John 1:9, Romans 6:1-2)
4. Do you strive to be holy or refuse to obey scripture? Are there areas of scripture you decide “I’m not going to do that” or “I’m ignoring that part” (1 John 2:29, 1 John 2:3).
Take a few seconds and pull up each of these scriptures. They’re not some preacher’s ‘proof texting’ to make his point. They’re clear and specific.
Was your answer to any of these questions “No”?
Be brutally honest with yourself.
If so, get down on your knees (that’s important) and tell God where you’re missing it. Missing Him. If you’re talking to Someone familiar as you pray…to Someone you know and who knows you, confess and repent and start over. If you’re talking to the ceiling or to yourself, then you don’t know Him and worse, He doesn’t know you. Embarrassing as it may feel, muster the guts to reach out to the most ‘all in’ Christ-follower you know. Schedule a private conversation in a private location. Tell him you want to be absolutely sure you are saved. Do it. Everything rides on this. Everything.
Question: Are you absolutely sure you know your Heavenly Father personally and that He knows you? Feel free to share with us here
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Responses (1)
Hi Regi. Thanks for this… as well as all your other writing. I find your work intelligent, insightful, inspiring, and encouraging.
I would like to respectfully offer my disagreement to one of the opinions expressed here: “If someone disavows God, he never knew him.”
This statement is not consistent with my spiritual journey. (Lost —> Home —> Wandering —> Home) I was saved at 18 and grew in relationship with our Triune God. I was HOME. In my brokenness, I left HOME. I knew God. I knew He is good. I knew He loved me exactly as I was / am. In my suffering, I simply reached a place where I doubted that He was capable of loving me. I believed, but I needed help with my un-belief. Doubt / Uncertainty / Questioning / any manner of unbelief… I had been convinced that these things were symptoms of a false relationship with the Father. They do not exist in a saved person. (I now know that was wrong.) Believing I couldn’t talk to anyone about this (certainly not to God) I drove a wedge into the middle of my relationship with God. Eventually, wanted nothing to do with God caused deep longings for Him that I denied with everything in me… to the point where I had no choice but to convince myself that I was wrong about the whole thing! I wanted nothing of or from God. Disavowing God was a coping mechanism for my guilt and shame for having distanced myself in the first place! God was there with me in that… whispering “I love you and miss you” watching and waiting for me… and in returning when I was yet a long way off He ran to me and embraced me! It has taken much spiritual work, much trust in our Triune God, and much time for me to realize what happened there. This progression of my heart and relationship with God was necessary for me. It may not have been for you, as your brokenness is different from mine.
Regi… I respect and honor you as a servant of our God. I love you as a brother in Christ. My purpose in stating my opinion here is not to argue. Why would we, when our purpose is the same?… You wish for men to know, love, and trust God and so do I. I don’t suppose to nor intend to have changed your opinion. I simply can not accept as truth someone’s opinion about my relationship with God if it differs from what I know to be true. There might be others going through what I went through… This perspective might save them a few years…
Open to your toughts.