Chapter 10
HIS ASSURANCE FOR YOUR DOUBTS
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 JOHN 5:13 NIV
90 Extending Your Expiration Date
In November 1985, the people in a church I pastored observed their annual tradition of giving food items to the pastor’s family. Among them was a faded Jell-O box with an expiration date of 1972!
One can consume Jell-O and other food items safely after the expiration date. But I’m guessing a pinch of that Jell-O could have dropped a seven-ton elephant in his tracks!
Your life on earth has an absolute expiration date. It’s not stamped under your left armpit or right foot. Doctors sometimes guess at it for patients with terminal conditions.
Based on my present age, experts predict I’ll live 84.73 years if I’m average. I’m rooting for above-average!
In 2015 my father, lying in a hospital emergency room, told me this was it for him. I didn’t believe it even though he was 102 years old. He was right. His death was a painful expiration date reminder.
Do you know how to extend your expiration date indefinitely? Jesus told Martha, “And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:26 NIV).
“Never” speaks of an unimaginably long life! Yes, your physical body will wear out and blow a gasket somewhere. But the real you will continue to live forever through believing in Jesus.
Trusting in His sacrificial death in your place makes the perishable imperishable (John 3:16)! You have limited time to extend your expiration date.
God is offering His favor now (2 Corinthians 6:2). It’s wise to receive it while you can.
Eternal separation from God doesn’t have an expiration date either (Matthew 25:46).
How will the reality of your expiration date affect how you live today?
Read Acts 1.
91 Am I a Christian?
I’m an American citizen. My birth certificate proves I was born in the USA. Federal, state, and local governments expect me to pay income taxes.
At eighteen, I registered for the draft. I’m a registered voter. My county has contacted me three times for jury duty.
I’m a Christian too. I wasn’t born one (no one is), but I was born again to become one (John 3:3). It was 100% undeserved (Ephesians 2:8–9).
I’m not as good as Jesus which makes me a sinner (Romans 3:23). Jesus died on the cross to pay in full the death penalty for my sin (Romans 6:23). Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are the basis for God’s accepting me (2 Corinthians 5:21).
I trust God’s promise that Jesus’ death erased my sin debt. I opened the door of my life to Jesus and made Him my Leader (Revelation 3:20).
I don’t trust my charitable deeds or in feeling virtuous. I trust in what Jesus has done for Me and in God’s keeping His promises.
I’m a Christian but I don’t have a new birth certificate to prove it! The Spirit of Jesus who lives in me communicates that I’m His child (Romans 8:16).
The Bible knows nothing about a trust that makes me right with God that doesn’t also make me a more loving person (James 2:26).
Since I received Jesus into my life, I’ve been more obedient, which demonstrates I love God (John 14:15). I have more love for others, especially other believers (1 John 3:14).
I’m far more interested in the Bible. I’m more forgiving. I pray more. Persistent guilty feelings no longer weigh me down.
I enjoy being with other believers. I enjoy helping others. I want others to know Jesus too.
How has your faith reshaped you to love Jesus and others more? How is your love growing? Read Acts 2.
92 Can I Trust My Feelings?
The short answer is “No.” What you do when you don’t want to do anything determines much of what you accomplish in this life. Most people don’t want to go to work on a Monday morning. But they go anyway!
Circumstances are like a string that controls the yoyo of your feelings. When life is going well, you feel on top of the world. When it’s not, your feelings bottom out.
If your feelings govern your relationship with God, your spiritual life will be as unstable as a two-legged chair. You’ll often wonder whether you’re a Christian. There’s a better way.
Trust the facts (God’s character and promises) and not whether you feel like you’re a Christian. Faith believes in and acts on God’s promises. Such trust produces the stability of knowing you have eternal life now (1 John 5:11–13).
That knowing begins by simply taking God at His word. If you open the door of your life to Jesus (Revelation 3:20), He promises to come into your life. He doesn’t say He might. He doesn’t say that He will think about it. He says He will.
You are a Christian. Whether you feel like Jesus is in your life isn’t relevant. Your feelings are not dependable. But God’s promises are. You can trust them because Jesus is the truth (John 14:6), the truth comes through Him (John 1:17) and God can’t lie (Numbers 23:19).
Faith is the only sure foundation for knowing that Jesus is living within you. Without it you can’t please God (Hebrews 11:6). You please Him by stepping out and putting your whole weight on His character and promises. They’re like thirty-inch-thick ice that supports trucks. They will hold your weight when you’re bold enough to step out on them.
How has trusting God’s character and promises instead of your feelings brought freedom from fear and doubt? Read Acts 3.
93 Push Button Rescue
“Help! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” The television commercial seemed hilarious. Then little by little, my ever-increasing age sucked the funniness right out of it!
Medical alert equipment helps countless senior citizens. Monitoring it costs about $500 per year.
Dialing 911 is another push-button rescue strategy. People in the United States make about 240 million 911 calls a year. I’m guessing you’ve done it at least once. The price for a follow-up ambulance ride is at least $500.
“Help! I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up” acknowledges you need to be rescued. That old television commercial accurately illustrates your spiritual condition.
You’ve fallen far short of God’s holy standard. Your spiritual failures, like a two-ton weight jacket, prevent you from getting up. Your fallen condition also prevents a personal relationship with God.
From an unpretentious I-can’t-get-up, “prone” position, you cry out, needy and helpless. You can’t pay the rescue’s price. Only Jesus can.
He paid more than you can imagine to freely forgive you without a $500 plus ambulance or monitoring fee.
A crying-out-for-rescue attitude turns you from self-orientation to a God and others orientation. You humbly depend on God’s rescuing power alone. You realize you can’t save yourself.
You trust in the complete sufficiency of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection to deliver you from the paralyzing weight of your failures and the addiction to living as if you were God. You believe Jesus’ work on the cross is enough to rescue you because God said it was (John 3:18). The supernatural peace you feel when you accept God’s free, undeserved gift of forgiveness attests to its truth (John 16:33).
How did owning your sickness contribute to your spiritual healing?
Read Acts 4.
94 How to Make a Difference
Like a stone thrown into a pond, your life leaves ripples. Your influence can be a great blessing or a curse. Your life influences others more than you realize.
My grandfather died in 1939. I never met him, yet he influenced me. I keep my promises no matter what it costs me. My grandfather taught my father that value. He taught it to me. That’s a positive value because it reflects God who always keeps His promises.
Your negative behavior also influences others. I once possessed a wallet that had belonged to a deceased man in western Pennsylvania to whom I’m distantly related through marriage.
It became mine because, at the time of his death, none of his immediate family wanted anything that had been his. I suspect that loving his family wasn’t his defining passion.
Although others influence you, you can’t use them as an excuse for your misbehavior. The Israelites tried the “It’s my daddy’s fault” excuse 2,500 years ago (Jeremiah 31:29–30).
God shot it down. You sometimes blame others for your problems. If I could kick the rear of the person responsible for 80 percent of my problems, I couldn’t sit for a week! I suggest the same principle applies to you as well!
Most moral problems result from putting yourself rather than God at the center of your life. God isn’t the defining passion of most professing Christians.
Too many church-going folks are apathetic and uncommitted because they’ve never really repented. They came to Jesus “just as I am” and never changed.
Repentance includes a different attitude and behavior. It involves a commitment to five basics to bless others: believing in prayer, the Holy Spirit’s filling you, the word of God, daily obedience, and telling others what Jesus means to you. In other words, you’re effective when you live the “normal” Christian life.
Why is the “normal” Christian life not normal among professing Christians? Read Acts 5.
95 Are You Noticeably Different?
About 84 percent of young non-Christians say they know a Christian personally. Only 15 percent say the lifestyles of those Christians are noticeably different in a good way.1 That doesn’t commend how closely professing Christians follow Jesus.
Understand Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23 about His followers denying themselves and carrying their crosses. Your cross is the problems you face and the suffering you endure because you’re a Christian.
If you’re a Christian, you dare not settle for less than following Jesus ever more closely. You can take a giant step in that direction by taking a five-minute Spiritual Health Assessment. It answers how to know you are growing spiritually.
One person who took it said, “I found the inventory to be a great reality check of where my heart is rather than just a checklist of something to do. I tend to score myself tough…. I’m concerned about my score (1.44 average) which I interpret to mean that I need to focus more on Christ and where my heart is….”
Honesty is essential. You can lie to yourself for a higher score. But self-deception doesn’t benefit you, God, or anyone else. No one will know your score except you and anyone you desire to tell.
You can use this resource to track your growth as a disciple. Think of it as a friend helping you prepare for the Final Exam when Jesus reviews your life face to face.
The assessment examines how well your everyday behavior aligns with Jesus’ values and behavior. It also looks at why you do what you do. For example, it doesn’t say, “I read the Bible daily.” It says, “I look forward to reading the Bible daily.” “I want to” is healthier than “I must.”
You can find the assessment at: https://www.christiangrowthresources.com/how-to-know-you-are-growing-spiritually.
Focus on improving one or two areas with the lowest scores. The How to Become More Like Jesus resource provides specific suggestions.
These two resources will show you the next step toward being part of the 15 percent who are noticeably different in a good way!
What is your plan to strengthen the one or two areas the assessment revealed as weak? Read Acts 6.
96 Eleven Signs of Jesus’ Life in Me
Vital Christian faith leads you to become more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). If it doesn’t, it’s as dead as a cell phone without a battery. The unique quality of Jesus’ life within you reveals itself in at least eleven ways.
The first is the Holy Spirit’s transforming presence in your life (1 John 4:13). Jesus died to save you from sin’s penalty. The Holy Spirit leads you in the fight to kill your God-offending habits and behaviors (Romans 8:13–14). As you do, the Spirit testifies with your human spirit that you’re God’s child (Romans 8:16).
Another vital sign is believing that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 5:1). Such belief moves beyond agreeing with the historical facts about Jesus to trusting His death, burial, and resurrection instead of your good works to make you 100% acceptable to God. It’s not your belief plus your good works that make you right with God but belief that produces good works as its fruit.
Another mark of belonging to God’s family is obeying Jesus’ commands (1 John 2:3). The commands you obey shape your life for better or worse. Jesus’ commands to love God and others (Matthew 22:37–39) make you more like Him. When that’s your goal, obeying Him is easier.
Another vital sign is loving other believers (1 John 3:14). Blessing others by self-sacrificial giving is its defining characteristic. It’s action-oriented, not feelings-oriented.
Another sign is doing what’s right (1 John 3:10). The Judge of all the earth does what is right (Genesis 18:25). You do too as His child as you follow your made-in-heaven internal moral compass.
Other signs of Jesus’ life in you include desiring to read and act upon the Bible’s instructions (2 Timothy 3:16–17), forgiving those who have offended you (Matthew 6:15), praying regularly (1 Thessalonians 5:17), God’s deliverance from the guilt of your sin (Hebrews 10:22), wanting to spend time with, serve, and encourage other believers (Hebrews 10:24–25, Galatians 5:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:11) and telling others what Jesus has done for you (Acts 1:8).
Which signs are most obvious in you? Least obvious? Read Acts 7.
97 What You See Is What Others Get
What you see in the mirror is what others get. How you see yourself significantly colors others’ pictures of you.
If you see yourself as a loser, you might as well tattoo “loser” on your forehead. It’ll be that obvious to others. If you see yourself as capable, others will detect your quiet confidence and guiding compass of purpose.
This principle operated when the spies of Israel reported on their exploration of the Promised Land. Ten spies saw multitudes of professional basketball-sized inhabitants.
They said it was a wonderful place, but not for them. “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them" (Numbers 13:33).
Self-image built on athletic ability, status in society, or physical appearance is like a sand- castle on the beach. The rising tide of adverse circumstances, aging, and life’s kicks and punches will eventually undermine it. God provides more security than a do-it-yourself foundation can give.
“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Neither time nor eternity can shake it. Jesus’ death in your place forever establishes your worth.
God paid Jesus to get you. That affixed your worth with the ultimate price tag with never a price rollback. By God’s grace, through repentance and trust in Jesus’ sacrifice for you, you become God’s child (John 1:12).
Do you see God’s child in the mirror? Why is that important?
Read Acts 8.
98 Why Maximum Security Was Not Disappointed
My family watches the Kentucky Derby on television. We cheered for Maximum Security on May 4, 2019. We thought he had a chance to win the Triple Crown. His crossing the finish line first made us happy.
Then, another horse’s owner challenged that victory. Video replays revealed this previously undefeated horse veered in front of other horses. He disrupted their momentum. We were disappointed when race officials overturned his victory.
These race officials informed more than 150,000 people at Churchill Downs and millions watching on television of the overturn. However, Maximum Security wasn’t disappointed.
He finished the race first. He knows. He was there. He didn’t care what television newscasters said, or newspaper journalists wrote about his race. He had no sense of interfering with other horses, even though he did. He won!
You sometimes ignore what God says about you in favor of your opinion. That’s hazardous to your spiritual health.
You underestimate how far short you fall from God’s moral perfection apart from faith in Christ. You underestimate how righteous your standing is by grace through faith in Christ.
On one hand, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV). On the other hand, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV). Agreeing with what God says about you equips you for reality with maximum security!
Why must your spiritual security be faith-dependent, not feelings-dependent?
Read Acts 9.