DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- PILGRIM'S PROGRESS -- LIFE ASSURANCE

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS – LIFE ASSURANCE

"…. for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."  (II Timothy 1:12)

"So Mistrust and Timorous ran down the hill, and Christian went on his way. But thinking again of what he had just heard from the men, he felt in his coat for his scroll so that he might read it and be comforted; but it was not there."

I had telemarketers call me this past week – 7 times from the same company. They were selling insurance. I asked them not to call me again, but they did it anyway. I had in mind to talk to them about insurance – Life Assurance. Eternal Life Assurance, that is. It doesn't cost anything, and everyone needs it.

Probably all Believers have had times of doubt and questioning whether they are truly saved. Doubt is not a bad thing because it deepens faith as we struggle through those times of questioning. Unbelief is a different story. Unbelief says, "I don't believe." Doubt says, "I believe, but I need some reassurance. Help my unbelief." Pilgrim's assurance came from the scroll – the written word that he had received at the gate. But he had lost it along the way. So he went back to find it and be encouraged in his faith. Bunyan wrote, "No one could have been more joyful than this man was after he retrieved his scroll! The scroll was the assurance of his life and acceptance at the Celestial City." 

Assurance of Salvation does not come from our feelings, but from what God has declared is true. John wrote in his Gospel, "These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31). Again he wrote in his epistle, "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" (I John 5:13). We have a solid rock for our faith in the Lord Jesus – God's Word. When questions creep in, we need to go back to the "scroll." Our Eternal Life Assurance is based on what God has said and what Jesus did, not what we feel.

Love, Dad