Snowmobiling on Thin Ice

“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.”

One of my friends grew up in a small, northern town with a stepfather whose job description included transporting the dead to the local funeral home. Supper-time conversations during the cold winter months frequently concerned which neighbor, acquaintance or school chum he had just delivered to the mortician. An alarming number of the deceased were fished out of the local lake.

Morbid, yes. But the point is that, like faith, the utility of confidence depends entirely on its object. If the ice is too thin, it won’t hold a snowmobile no matter how skilled and experienced its rider may be. Likewise with confidence misplaced.

Anonymous Asks (63)

“If I doubt my salvation, am I still saved?”

Doubts are a part of life. If you have never had them, you simply haven’t lived long enough yet.

To understand the answer to this question, it is necessary to consider how we were saved in the first place. Paul answers it very simply: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Put your trust in the resurrected Christ, then acknowledge his right to rule. Over the world. Over your life. In public. Not complicated. These are the beginnings of the salvation process.

Anonymous Asks (31)

“How do I know I’m saved?”

This is a question which occurs to nearly every young believer at one point or another. Some struggle with it more than others.

If you’ve run your question by fellow Christians, someone has probably quoted you Romans 10:9: “[I]f you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”