Day 3 – Assurance: Knowing Whose You Are
Scripture: Romans 8:14-17
Many Christians believe in God yet quietly wonder whether God truly accepts them. Have I done enough? Is my faith strong enough? Did I pray the right prayer? What if I fail again? John Wesley struggled with similar questions. Eventually, Wesley emphasized what Methodists call Christian Assurance: through the Holy Spirit, believers have genuine confidence that they are children of God. Romans 8 describes this as the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are God's children.
Fanny Crosby understood something of that confidence. Crosby became blind as an infant and lived into her nineties. During her lifetime, she wrote thousands of hymns and gospel songs, many of which Christians still sing today. Among the best known is Blessed Assurance. The hymn does not sound like the words of someone nervously wondering whether God might love her. It sounds like someone who knows where she belongs. Crosby's life was not free from hardship. Blindness shaped nearly her entire earthly existence. She experienced grief, disappointment, and loss like anyone else. Yet her hymns repeatedly returned to joy, trust, hope, and confidence in Christ.
Christian assurance does not mean we never have questions. It does not mean we never experience periods of doubt. And it certainly does not mean Christians believe they are better than everyone else. Assurance means that the foundation of our relationship with God is not the strength of our grip on God but the strength of God's grip on us.
Think about a young child walking beside a parent. The child may stumble. The child may become distracted. The child's hand may loosen, but the parent is still holding on. That is a picture of grace.
We carry many identities through life. We are parents and grandparents, husbands and wives, friends and coworkers, neighbors and church members. Some identities change with time, but beneath them all is an identity grace gives us: Child of God.
At St. Andrew UMC, we want people to hear that good news clearly. Our worship, teaching, hospitality, mission, and care for one another should continually remind people that in Christ they are welcomed into the family of God. You do not have to live every day anxiously wondering whether God still loves you. The Holy Spirit reminds us: You belong to Christ. You are God's child. You are held by grace. That is blessed assurance.
Next Step: Throughout today, whenever anxiety, inadequacy, or self-doubt surfaces, quietly repeat: “I am a child of God, and I am held by grace.” Let that truth become a prayer.
