Faith, Feelings and Assurance

Most of us have gone to church all our lives. We have heard the facts that the Bible calls the gospel, the good news. We believe that Jesus died for us. We have no trouble with belief in miracles, the Genesis account of creation, providence or the resurrection. Some have stumbled at these, but not us. Our faith stands firm on the foundation. We live by our faith though we don't talk freely about it. But if one meets another Christian who is praising God for a new assurance he has, he may not know what to do. He ' may be floored. Don't I have it? I thought I did. But this person seems so sure!

Isn't believing and having faith about all there is to it. Certainty, mental assent and trust are basic. The Bible speaks much of believing and the fact that we are saved by our faith. For example, Jesus said: "He who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5 : 24). Here it says that by believing in Jesus I am alive in the spirit. I have passed from death to life. Eternal life is now. I have it!

When a person first believes ne is a baby spiritually though he may be old physically. He must not stay a baby. Salvation is but the beginning. Growing into a mature person in the Lord is the rest of the story. A sign of growth are the fruits. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5 : 22). Though the growing of these fruits do not by-pass the mind, they seem to come more from the heart than the mind. To me these are an outgrowth of a warm relationship to Christ. Jesus wants to enter our mind and our emotional life also.

I often think of the woman who met Jesus at the well. During the conversation she learned two things about this traveling Jew. He told her that he was the Messiah and that he could give her a "living water". "The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4 : 14). She asked for the water. He gave it. Her cup began to run over. She went back to her village (even forgot her waterpots) and told her friends about Jesus. The truth that this man was the Messiah gripped her mind and touched her heart. The ecstasy of the moment would fade, but the living water would continue to bubble within her being.

My husband often asks people on family visiting if they have assurance of their salvation. Assurance tells us that our prayers went beyond the ceiling. While faith is our reaching out to God; assurance is the knowledge and certainty that He has received us. Romans 8 :16 says, "the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God". This is paraphrased in the Living New Testament: "For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts, and tells us that we really are God's children.' Our assurance is based on the experience of God responding to us.

Recently in our church we have rejoiced with many who received this assurance. For some the impact of it was a dramatic thing. For some it came slowly and quietly. Some don't know when it began, they only know that Christ means more to them than ever before. Some label it the "new birth" because if they had been alive in Christ before, it was nothing like this. In John 3 Jesus compares the work of the spirit to the wind. You can't see it, but you know it has been by the wild tossing or gentle sway of the trees. So these Christians notice changes. The Bible comes alive. Sermons satisfy. Many become enthusiastic readers (and lenders) of Christian books. Some expressed surprise at their new pleasure in reading since they had been too busy to sit down and read before.

My own spiritual life was revitalized and deepened when I was in my second year at the Reformed Bible Institute. I had been studying the Bible, singing in churches, yet all of it seemed fruitless. After a time of crying and praying while alone in the sun-porch of the dorm, I said, "Lord, you take over my life now. I can't do it."

I don't recall any feeling of ecstasy. I felt assurance that God had heard because I said to my best friend, "the 'old June' just died and things will be different now". At that time I gave myself to Him with the needs as I knew them then. In the years since I have had to give other corners of myself to his control. Growth demands change. Fruit doesn't ripen over night.

I am writing this because many people confuse this deep steady feeling of assurance with the high point of ecstasy that some have. Some who were brought into a deepening experience with Christ soared to a high emotional level. They felt such joy and love and freedom in speaking etc. They feel they must never lose this.

It is a common thing for a new Christian to think the Christian life will be easy and always victorious' Peter thought he had reached it- one day on the mountaintop. He had seen Jesus changed by a supernatural brightness and with him, Moses and Eli ah. He had been sleeping (while Jesus prayed) and he woke to a spectacular glimpse of the Kingdom of God. (Can you imagine talking to great immortal figures you'd read about in History books? And here they are with glorified bodies too!) Peter was so thrilled with the glory of it all that be begged Jesus to build permanent tents right there.

But Jesus scolded Peter and told him that the words had come from Satan. Jesus' work was not done. The cross was ahead. Peter's work was not done either. We have eternity and eternal life in our hearts, but we press on toward the consummation of it. We cannot stay on the mountain-top. We fight in the valley and then return to God's Word for the mountain-top view. So we go "from glory to glory". When you are up high, someone has said, the only way to go is down. So it is with the feelings of spiritual excitement. One morning the person who was so happy awakes to discover that the feelings have leveled out. He can go all day without feeling an urge to read the Bible. God seems farther away. He finds himself getting angry at little things. Praying seems unfruitful. This letdown is a very normal thing but Satan tries to make the person feel he has lost everything.

I think the ideals of the new Christian are like the romantic ideals of the newlywed. According to the magazine stories the bliss of the honeymoon goes on forever. The newlyweds are positive the honeymoon will last. But does it? Should it? (How you answer those questions depends on whether your are un-married, whether you are just newly married, or whether you've been married for some years!)

Satan could not shake us if we would remember that our happiness and assurance must go deeper than a feeling. We do not always feel loving toward our mates and our children but that does not mean-we do not love them. Married couples learn that even in the wildest disagreements, their love is still there. Romantic feelings go up and down with their moods but a mature steady acceptance and love is basic to a stable relationship.

Try to run your home on your feelings. Sorry kids, no supper tonight. Mommy didn't feel like fixing it. Here is when our mind and discipline and self-control come in. When we don't feel like reading the Bible -and praying we must do it anyway. Otherwise our spiritual growth will be sporadic.