Last night I taught the third installment of a basic Christianity class to several junior high students at our church in Bangkok. The topic for the evening was 'How Can I Be Sure of My Faith.' I taught from passages in the Bible that show how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit play various roles in our life as believers to assure us that we belong, irrevocably, to Him.
One of the key parts of the lesson involved what sorts of things should not be the ground of assurance that we are true believers in Christ. For example, I stressed that assurance should not be based on a 'salvation experience' in the past where a hand is raised to 'accept Christ', the 'sinners prayer' is prayed at an invitation time, or some other event like these. One perceptive student explained it well when she said, "If you don't have faith in God, saying the sinner's prayer doesn't mean anything...it's just words."
A few days ago, a colleague drew my attention to a blog post by fellow Southern Baptist missionary David Rogers entitled Keith Green and 'Spiritual Abortion'. It's worth checking out. More importantly, it's worthwhile for all of us to consider what we and those around us look to as the basis for our assurance in Christ.
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