How do you know the condition of your soul? At the end of this life will your eternal destination be heaven? Hell? How do you know if you have been forgiven? If you have been granted salvation? How do you know if you will be taken up to heaven at the end of this age, or left behind to suffer the greatest tribulation man will ever know? Is there any way to know for sure? If you've prayed for salvation once, do you have to do it again? If you've asked for forgiveness, are you forgiven?
It seems like sometimes there are more questions than certainties. We (we humans? we in the western culture? I don't know if it's our nature or our culture that drives this need, but "we"...) seem to have a desire that almost borders on a need to KNOW what God will do, how, when, why. We want definitive answers that are clear-cut and laid right out there for us. We don't want to have to look for them. We don't want to have to work for them. Basically, we just want the answers given to us.
But a large part of this life we have been given is designed to be centered around learning - SEEKING, WAITING, TRUSTING, DEPENDING ON - God and His ways. Our dependence on Him to lead us and guide us through this life creates in us a humility of spirit that is absolutely necessary to keep our selfishness and pride at bay. It is not that He does not want us to have answers. He has given us a whole BOOK of answers. He simply desires that we take the time and put forth the effort to search for them, and in doing so, seek and find Him.
When we are active in our relationship with Him - as we take the time to sit and read the Bible, as we take time to pray - a wonderful process plays out. Our understanding and knowledge of Him (not head knowledge that can be spouted off by memory, but heartfelt knowledge that stirs the very deepest emotions and affections) will begin to grow and develop. We become more and more aware of Him - His nature, His character, His personality, His passions and desires. We become more and more willing to open ourselves up to Him, to let Him into those closed off places that we have tucked away out of sight. We become more willing to let Him work things out in us, and we become more cooperative, less resistant to His correction and discipline.
It is through this process that He refines us, shapes us and molds us more and more into His likeness. And it is through this process that we absolutely fall in love with Him in a way that cannot be described in words. Ultimately, it is this process that gives us the security and the peace of knowing what we have no other way of knowing. Because of our relationship with Him, we are able to KNOW that our salvation is secured; know that our sins have been forgiven; know that we are covered by grace; know that we are seen and loved and favored by the King of everything; KNOW that our eternity will be spent with Him.
It is ONLY through a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus that we have this security of knowing. It is in relationship with Him that we have the grace to make mistakes, ask forgiveness, and try again. Here we are able to learn to daily crucify those things that would hinder us from the perfect plan and design that God has for our lives. It is ALL about the condition of our hearts - the genuineness of our belief in Him, our desire to know Him, our willingness to put in the effort and to do the things He has asked of us (obedience). The Bible makes it clear that God is absolutely concerned with the heart of a person. A heart in love with God can only be found in a man or woman who is in relationship with God. There is no other way. Relationship is the absolute key to knowing.
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