Assurance ( 5:1-11)

I have to admit there is an aspect of “assurance” that I do not like. In my experience, I have heard pastors preach on and on, asking “But do you have assurance,” hoping to get someone to raise their hand or walk down the aisle, indicating they had just found faith. And sometimes, it really does happen that way. My concern is that it doesn’t end there; “making a decision for Christ” is only the beginning point of a long journey of faith...And my faith, and the faith of most people I know gets rattled at times. We fail in some way, or have a bad emotional season, or face a monstrous difficulty and find ourselves cowering in fear and uncertainty. And that is what I love about this section of Romans.

To me, it is incredibly comforting to know that He loves me on my bad days, sees the depths of my heart and He isn’t going anywhere.

Paul’s logic goes like this: before I was spiritually renewed, He loved me deeply and authentically and sacrificially-when I had done nothing to earn that love…nothing. When I was His enemy, Christ died for me, and I was saved. How much more, now that we have been redeemed will we be saved by Christ’s resurrection!

Assurance is the certainty that this journey started with Him loving me, not me loving Him. It is the clarity of knowing He did not begin to love me due to my behavior, so when I am failing, He will not love me less.

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