Are You Sure?

Until one is confident of their salvation, not much else matters.

Too many flounder from spiritual high to spiritual high...yet are never firmly established in the faith.

They smile at the right time, are fluent in Christianese, maybe even share their "faith," yet they tremble when they read Matthew 7.21, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven."

The book of First John has a mission statement..."I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 Jo 5.13) 

Sadly many are trained to take people to that verse after they "receive" Christ in order to let them "know" that they are saved...but the "counselor" doesn't make the time to help the counselee begin to understand what "these things" are (which, of course, is everything else that comes before 1 John 5.13).

So, if you, or someone you know, struggles with assurance, point them to 1 John.

And buy a copy of this book to help. The title will be a turn-off to many (in fact, Paige Patterson - president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary - who wrote the forward to the book says, even in recommending the book, that "I confess that I dislike the title...").

At only 120 or so pages, it is not lengthy, but is loaded with scripture, common sense, and honesty.

I recommend it highly...and if you buy it by clicking on the following link you'll help support the Hager family...who serve as home missionaries

Charlie Brown the Bible Quizzer

Yes, I know that this really portrays Charlie as a participant in a spelling bee, but I chuckled as I read it...and I think every Bible quizzer can relate as they consider their first competition:

Repeatable Reminder

I am not saying anything about any recent books here...but I think this reminder, from Stephen Altrogge, is important:

"...for most of us, being radical for Jesus means being faithful to do the 'ordinary' Christian things. The Christian life is inherently radical, inherently risky, and inherently crazy. Following Jesus means dying to myself every single day. That is radical. If I seek to obey God's Word, my life will look very different than the rest of the world."