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Beginner’s Guide to Faith
When Christians struggle with doubts about whether they’re truly saved, they often turn to 1 John 5:13 for assurance. It points to the confidence we can have about our eternity if we’ve put our trust in Jesus. But if we want to understand that promise correctly, we need to read it alongside the tests that precede it.
Christianity makes the remarkable claim that God completely pardons sinners solely on the basis of their faith, not as a result of anything they have done to deserve it. But doesn’t God care how a person lives? Two equations help explain Christianity’s most misunderstood truth.
Many people assume that because they believe in God, attend church, or try to live a decent life, their faith must be genuine. But throughout the Gospels, Jesus regularly challenged people who looked spiritually healthy on the outside while holding fatal blind spots under the surface. Considering them helps us evaluate the condition of our own faith.
Plenty of people say they believe in Jesus, but there’s something missing. Jesus pictures them in Matthew 7:21-23 as those pleading to get into heaven but being denied entrance. It seems that they come close to salvation, but not close enough. They lack what so many “almost Christians” lack today: repentance and relationship.
When someone begins to understand what the Bible calls “good news,” the first reaction is often hesitation. The message that Jesus bore the consequences of our sins at the cross sounds like good news, but almost too good to be true. Part of the reason is that they don’t hear or fully understand what it means to confess, “Jesus is Lord.”
