If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Dear Lord,
Lord, You are the essence of love, and You are all together lovely in every sense of the word. I praise You for who You are! Lord, thank You for having mercy on me, opening my eyes by Your grace, and gifting me with my faith in Jesus Christ, my glorious Lord and loving Savior.
One way we know that we belong to You is that we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, our neighbors and enemies. For love is the ultimate mark of a true Christian. It's the love in one’s heart that shows evidence of belonging to Christ.
Lord, I would like to recite to You one of the most lovely passages in all Your Word. I praise You for Your Word, Lord. It is my favorite thing in the world. That's because it's You, Jesus. You are the way, the Truth, and the life. Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path (Psalm 119:105). Jesus Christ is the Word Incarnate, the Word made flesh, and God is love.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
It's the work of the Holy Spirit within us, not our good works, that gives us the assurance of our salvation. It's putting our trust in Jesus and His work that gives us the Holy Spirit by God's grace, which gives us the security of our salvation. It's the indwelling Holy Spirit that produces good fruit in our lives, yielding to assurance. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:8-10)
Security of Salvation Vs Assurance of Salvation
The security of a believer's salvation is fixed for eternity and never waivers, and a believer can never lose his or her salvation. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand (John 10:27-28). The security of a believer's salvation is solely dependent on Jesus Christ and His work on the cross and resurrection. But assurance of a believer's salvation is a feeling, and it is dependent on how we talk, behave, respond, and live as a Christian. True joy and assurance of salvation is found in our obedience to the Word of God and suffering for the sake of Christ and the gospel.
If as a Christian we lose our joy, we don't need to look at our ever-changing circumstances, but we must examine our relationship with the Lord and our obedience to His Word. Whenever we start doubting our salvation, we must examine our obedience, confess and repent of our sins, and then quickly turn our eyes upon Jesus and rest in His love and mercy and what He did for us. And that's where your eyes should remain - on Jesus and His love for you.
Fill Our Mind With Truth, & Fix Our Eyes on Jesus
When we fill our mind with the hope and joy of Christ and the Truth of His Word, there is no room for sin or lies that lead to doubt or lack of assurance. Assurance of salvation will be restored when we turn our eyes upon Jesus and submit ourselves to Him. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:6-8). Satan knows he can't destroy our souls, but he aims to destroy the joy and peace that we have with Jesus. And one way he tries to steal our joy and peace is by getting believers to doubt our salvation.
Filling our minds with Truth and reading His Word daily is how we spiritually grow and mature as believers, and the more Truth we read everyday and fill our minds with, the more assurance we will have. While Satan wants people to empty their minds through Eastern meditation practices, Jesus never tells us to empty our minds but commands us to fill our minds with Scripture. We are to mediate on God's Word, and we are never to meditate by emptying our minds. Emptying our minds is a very dangerous thing to do spiritually, and it's just a free invitation for the devil. but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:2).
Love is the Evidence We Believe
One way we know that the Holy Spirit is at work in our hearts is that we love our brothers and sisters. In First John it says, No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this, we know we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit (1 John 12-13). Since God is love, those who believe in Jesus also demonstrate God’s nature. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
The night before He goes to the cross, Jesus tells us to love one another. By loving one another, we will prove that we are truly His disciples. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35). Love is the evidence we have the Holy Spirit and believe in Jesus. Prophecies, knowledge, and tongues will all pass away, but love will never. Love never ends.
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:8-13).
Whatever the outside deed is; however extravagant or sacrificial it may be to the world, it is the inside of the deed that counts to Jesus. He sees deep down into the depths of our hearts where our true intentions and motives are, and we cannot hide from the God Almighty. May the truth of our deeds come from a place of humility and sacrificial love and not from pride or selfish gain. May our actions and deeds be that which bring glory to God and not to ourselves to be seen or praised by others.
Love Covers a Multitude of Sins
May we keep our eyes focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ as our wonderful hope and not ourselves or our own deeds. May we make all sacrifices for His glory, and may the center of everything we do, be with love – love for God and love for others. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Saving faith naturally produces love, and love is the most effectual ingredient in a living faith. Love also promotes deeper faith and commitment because we are more likely to trust in those whom we love.
Lord, may we be empowered by love to accomplish all that you call us to do, and may it be love that helps drive us to share the gospel with others. The Word produces faith, and faith produces love, and love produces good fruits, which bears evidence of a true Christian. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
Lord, help me to grow with you spiritually through reading Your Word. Also, please give me the grace to be more sensitive to my own fallenness and sin so that I may be quicker to confess it, repent of it, and turn to You in faith, hope, and love. May my obedience of faith be driven by the love I have for you, Jesus.
All glory belongs to You, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray amen.
Love,
Jenna
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. Proverbs 10:12
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13
let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, Hebrews 12:1-2