Assurance

We all want assurance. We want to be assured that what we are doing is what we are suppose to be doing. We want to know for sure that we have made the right choices and the right decisions. We want to know if we are doing what God wants us to do or not.

This week as we have been doing VBS I have been thinking about the assurance that we receive from God. It is not the assurance that we often get from the world. God assurance some times will come by way of a pat on the back or a thank you but, most often that is not the assurance that we receive. In fact, sometimes pats on the back or thank yous are not assurances at all. When Jesus announced his mission to save the world to his home town, the assurance that he received for doing the will God was that they tried to run him off a cliff and stone him. When he feed the hungry and dined with sinners and prostitutes it got him called names. When he confronted the kingdom of the world world with the Kingdom of God, it got him nailed to a cross. Assurance that he was doing what he had been called by God to do came from a whisper that said, "this is my son in whom I am well pleased." It was not a pat on the back by his peers or a thank you from those that he healed or fed. The world often rewards ungodly behavior and discourages Kingdom behavior. They did in Jesus day.

We can have assurance. The bible tells us that we can be assured of our salvation. The Spirit is the assurance of our salvation. When the Spirit is in us we can be assured of the hope that we have. I also think that an assurance that we can have when we are doing God's work and God's will is joy. When we are doing what God wants us to do, blessing happens through us and to us. There is always a double blessing in doing the work of God. We see Jesus in the people that we serve and they are able to see Jesus in us. It is no longer about us working or serving, it is not about us at all, it is all about Jesus.

When we are doing what God wants us to do, it can be hard, tiring, exhausting, dirty, nasty, fun-less tasks but we still despite that find joy. They exhaustion is worth it. We say man I am tired but it was so rewarding. My feet hurt and my hands are blistered but I saw God today, my life has been changed because I did this. They have been long days but there are children singing songs about Jesus. I'm tiered and worn out but over 80 kids are hearing about God's love. There is nothing else I would rather be doing!

That is our assurance. No matter what it is, when we are doing what God wants us to do, we have a since of joy that we would not want to do anything else. It is a peace that passes all understanding. To others it might make no since at all, but to you it is the only thing that makes since. You get a joy that is greater than any back ache, exhaustion, or frustration. It is a joy that comes from the Lord. That is an assurance that we are doing what God wants us to do. And work becomes no work at all, instead, it is service to the Lord.

Love today.

In Christ's love and mine,

Doug