Of course, they have good reason to feel this way if they have never obeyed the gospel, but if they have obeyed the gospel, why do so many live with uncertainty?
I think that there are multiple reasons, so I won’t attempt to over-simplify the issue, but hopefully give some helpful insights.
One reason why people feel uncertainty and lack peace is because of existing sin in their life. If you want to lose your peace and assurance, there’s no quicker way to do so than by indulging in sin. For when we indulge in sin it causes us to ask ourselves, “If I really were a follower of Jesus, why would I do this?” And when I doubt if I’m a follower of Jesus, I naturally doubt my salvation.
Another reason why people feel uncertainty and lack of peace is because of another type of existing sin, the sin of omission. James says it best in James 4:17, 17 …to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
This is different. This isn’t like the first example I used, what we would refer to as a sin of commission, in other words, I know something is sinful and I choose to do it. I take action in some way to sin.
But a sin of omission is the sin of not taking action. And we’re masters of justification when it comes to sins of omission. We think that if we can come up with a good enough excuse, we’re off the hook for doing God’s good work. We’re not off the hook, not to God. But there has only been one who has ever done all of the good work God put before him, Jesus.
Look, if you are a truly a follower of Jesus, truly redeemed, truly born-again, you still have the potential to commit sins of commission and sins of omission. You can, and you do. And just because you sin, doesn’t mean that you are no longer among the redeemed, but it does mean that you might doubt it.
I think this is healthy, but only to a certain extent. If you have sin in your life, take Jesus’ advice and take whatever measures necessary to purge that sin from your life. Your peace will return. If you are guilty of the sin of omission, and you know it, simply do the good that you know you should do and your peace will return.
There’s another reason why people feel uncertainty and lack peace. It’s much more serious. In fact, it’s deadly serious because it has eternal implications. Sometimes people feel uncertainty and lack of peace because they are not saved.
Maybe they have never obeyed the gospel or maybe they went through the motions of obeying the gospel, but never truly made a decision to follow Jesus or turn away from their sin. Maybe they were taught a false gospel and given a false sense of security that went away with time. It’s possible.
There are a lot of possibilities, but I wanted to share with you what I call the touchstones of my faith and I sometimes also call this my personal theology. Simply put, it’s a self-diagnostic to give me the peace and assurance that all true followers of Jesus are supposed to live with.
In a phrase, it’s: Love God, love others, love God’s Word and do what it says. I begin with asking myself the question, “Wes, do you love God? Not as you define love, but as He defines love?” If I answer, “yes,” I then ask the immediate follow-up question, “What is your evidence?”
Next, I ask, “Wes, do you love others?” If I answer, “yes,” I then ask the immediate follow-up question, “What is your evidence?”
Again, I ask, “Wes, do you love God’s Word?” If I answer, “yes,” I then ask the immediate follow-up question, “What is your evidence?”
Finally, I ask, “Wes, do you obey God’s Word?” If I answer, “yes,” I then ask the immediate follow-up question, “What is your evidence?”
When I work through these questions, giving honest answers, I will then either feel a great assurance or, depending on my answers, I won’t. When I don’t, I do whatever I have to do, make whatever adjustments that I have to make, to prove myself a true follower of Jesus.
These are my touchstones. I hope you find them useful.
Much love!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
