Confident Assurance

I'm currently reading through Jerry Bridges' The Gospel For Real Life and though I have a fair amount of disagreements with what he has to say in this book, one thing struck me this morning. Speaking about pursuing Christian virtues, Bridges says, "However, the doing of these things...is not the basis of the rich welcome. Rather, it is the means...whereby we make our calling and election sure. In other words, it is a way we assure ourselves that we have been made new creations in Christ and do have the hope of eternal life."

Maybe take a second to read that one more time.

Wow. I know it's true that our works are not the justification for our access to eternal life, but I never thought about the fact that our sinlessness and our pursuit to become more like Christ are simply a way to assure ourselves of our coming inheritance. In other words, we can be filthy rotten sinners who are committed to Christ, and by Christ, we are justified before God, but by living this way we will lack the confidence that God prompts us to have in this life.

Does this make sense?

In John 10:10, Jesus told us that he came to give us abundant life. But this abundant life is only accessed when we truly give up our own sinful desires and focus our desires on Christ. Christ offers us the confident assurance in this life of His coming Kingdom and of our place in that Kingdom, and in order to engage with that confidence and with the abundant life that Jesus offers, we must pick up our cross daily and follow Christ.

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." -- Matthew 16:24-25