I made a decision when I was younger, but I don’t feel the same buzz I used to
I never consciously ‘prayed the prayer’: I just always believed
Other Christians seem to find trusting Jesus much easier than me
I struggle with X: can I still be a Christian?
I’ve never had an experience of God like I hear other people say they have
My life didn’t really change when I trusted in Jesus: I’d been going to church anyway and hanging out with Christians
I’m worried I’ve committed the unforgivable sin: but I’m not sure what it is
Sometimes I find it hard to say I’m a Christian and I worry I’m a bad witness to others
I don’t like Christian music and I find it hard to concentrate in sermons
I don’t know the Bible very well
Sometimes I wonder if God listens to my prayers and if He’s really there
…
Ok. Forget these things for a moment.
Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” .
It’s not about what you feel.
It’s not about what you do.
Do you believe that Jesus is Lord? i.e. He’s what God’s really like?
That He died and rose to save you from your sins?
Do you want Him as your Saviour and your Lord?
If the answer is ‘yes’ – then you are His. And He is yours.
Full stop.
I have felt much of what you write about in the first part of your post. In my case I had a big misunderstanding if what it was to belong to Christ. I had little understanding of His grace and what exactly I had been forgiven of. I became saved- BINGO- instant sanctification. Wrong,
I was instantly justified but sanctification, the work of the holy spirit changing me and shaping me ever closer into the moral likeness of Christ, had just begun and would progress until my last breath. Further I had looked at salvation as a one time shot: “on such and such day I was saved at 12:03 pm”. I have come to see this as less of an event and more of an active work of his grace: “I was saved yesterday, I’m being saved today, and he will save me tomorrow.”
I’ve been a Christian for twenty five years and it is only in the last two that I have begun to recognize His ongoing work in me.
Thanks for your post Emma.
‘I was saved yesterday, I’m being saved today and he will save me tomorrow’. Thanks Chris.