The Right Road
by Skip Heitzig |Years ago, when my son Nathan was a baby, I decided to get the family in the car and drive from Albuquerque to see White Sands National Monument. I thought I knew where I was going, but I took a wrong turn, and I ended up in the town of Carrizozo. This town is just a little wide spot in the road, and my car broke down there. Nathan was ill and throwing up in the back seat and with the nearest doctor 100 miles away, I started to panic.
That's how an insecure believer lives: "I thought I was on the right road, but maybe I'm lost."
Some people think that if you believe you can know your eternal destination, you're arrogant. Others believe that being assured of your salvation opens the door to loose living. But I think you both can know and should know that you're saved. First John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."
It's important for you to know this. Knowing your eternal destiny for certain gives you stability. Hebrews 6:19 calls this "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." If you're not secure, one day you'll feel close to God, the next day you won't, and you'll lack joy and be filled with anxiety. And being certain of salvation makes you effective--more effective in your witness, because you're sure and you want others to be sure, as well as more effective in your prayer life.
Chapters 2 and 3 of First John give some important guidelines to knowing if you are a child of God, and I invite you to prayerfully read those verses. God wants you to know for sure. You should know. You can know.
If you're not saved today, I pray that your conscience would bother you so much that you don't get any sleep until you surrender to Christ. You might say, "That's horrible!" No, that's a loving thing, because I want you in heaven!
I also pray that those of you who know Christ will be soothed, calmed, comforted, and assured as you abide in him. You have nothing to fear.
You're on the right road.
That's how an insecure believer lives: "I thought I was on the right road, but maybe I'm lost."
Some people think that if you believe you can know your eternal destination, you're arrogant. Others believe that being assured of your salvation opens the door to loose living. But I think you both can know and should know that you're saved. First John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."
It's important for you to know this. Knowing your eternal destiny for certain gives you stability. Hebrews 6:19 calls this "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast." If you're not secure, one day you'll feel close to God, the next day you won't, and you'll lack joy and be filled with anxiety. And being certain of salvation makes you effective--more effective in your witness, because you're sure and you want others to be sure, as well as more effective in your prayer life.
Chapters 2 and 3 of First John give some important guidelines to knowing if you are a child of God, and I invite you to prayerfully read those verses. God wants you to know for sure. You should know. You can know.
If you're not saved today, I pray that your conscience would bother you so much that you don't get any sleep until you surrender to Christ. You might say, "That's horrible!" No, that's a loving thing, because I want you in heaven!
I also pray that those of you who know Christ will be soothed, calmed, comforted, and assured as you abide in him. You have nothing to fear.
You're on the right road.
In His strong love,
Skip Heitzig
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