I can see!

 I've heard somebody say yesterday, 'I don't know whether I am saved or not, only God knows that.' That's not the first time I've heard people say that. So I've decided to write about it because I don't think a little logic would hurt the people that use that sort of line and think it pertinent or even lofty.

On the surface it seems like such a humble thing to say. I happen to think it's plain idiotic, not because I blame people that doubt their own salvation, but because the theory behind it is ridiculous.
If you have been drifting at sea, about to drown and somebody came along, jumped in the water and dragged you to safety, you wouldn't think it's lofty to sit there panting on deck while the ship rejoices, telling them 'only the person that saved me knows whether I have been saved or not, I do not know.' Are you kidding me? Look around you! You were drowning, now you're not. You were dying, now you're not!
Now imagine spending years on that ship and you're still there telling people, 'I might still be in the waters, I am not sure, ask the captain.' Ridiculous!

I do not know whether you're saved or not. Only you know that and the fact that you're confused makes me think you either fell pray to a lie from the enemy, or some 'theologian' proposed a theory that made you doubt yourself. Or it could be that you are not saved indeed.
It's not rocket science. It never was despite what some people make it sound like. I'll make this as simple as possible, even though I know you'd more readily eat it up if I'd use some Greek and Hebrew terminology. But I shall attempt to address this nonsense. I harbor no illusion that logic will convince you, but let's try it anyway. I'll borrow a passage from John 9 and paraphrase it in terms you might understand.

You were blind. In fact you were born blind. And you spent your life seeing through whatever you could touch or through other people's descriptions of the seen world. You were clueless what they were talking about because you had no frame of refrence for half the things they mentioned. And one day, this Person came along.  Without a word to you He pasted mud on your eyes and told you to go wash. And even just to get the dirt off, you went and you did what He asked. And lo and behold, you saw! And you saw well! Others didn't recognize you because you confused them with your ability to see. When questioned, maybe you didn't know exactly what to answer about the One that gave you sight. You weren't able to describe the atoning power, you couldn't tell them exactly how substitution works or about the two natures of Christ. You didn't have all the facts about baptism, or The Lord's supper, or any notion about eschatology and nephillim. But you knew you have been blind and that now you could see! Now blind people trying to lead the blind are telling you that maybe you either have never been blind to begin with or that it's an illusion that you see, 'no, you might still be blind' Are you serious?! You're a grown up. You can testify for yourself. You have been blind and now you see! Don't ask me or anybody else, 'do you think I see?'-- Do you?! Only you know whether you see or not. And if you're blind then fine, I'll write another post how you can be led to Jesus, but I doubt you need that.

So you had a nasty fall. The kind that is so unbecoming for a child of God that you feel like there's no way you haven't lost your salvation. You were blind (have I overemphasized it?) some things are still foreign to you. You're still adjusting to the seen world. When something feels scary or alien to you, you still find yourself closing your eyes just to get your bearings. Darkness feels safer than the Light. You're gonna fail. A lot! But does that mean that now the gift of sight has left you? If you stumble and fall, and fall to the point where you break limbs and sport a black eye and bruises for weeks, does that make you turn blind again? Am I saying you can't become blind after you've regained your sight? Not at all. What I am telling you is that you would have to hate your sight so much and despise the seen world to the point where you'd go, pick up a sharp object and shove it in both your eyes. But the fact that you fall or that you get dirt on you, dirt which didn't bother you before because you couldn't see it, doesn't make you blind again. It makes you dirty. Go and wash and avoid pigsties in the future.
You might even fall so hard that you end up in a dark whole in the ground and in that case I can see why you would be confused whether you have lost your sight or not. But it's just a dark whole, you're not blind again!
One of my favorite movies, Hacksaw Ridge has a good image that helps my point. There's this fallen soldier among many others that the main character is trying to save and take to safety. He stumbles upon an American soldier that wants to shoot him because he doesn't recognize friend from foe. The main character reassures him that he's a friend and the guy desperately informs him, 'Doss, I'm blind! I can't see!' Doss can see that blood has covered his face and when it dried in shut his eyes closed, so he reaches out for his canteen and washes the guy's eyes and the grateful man latches on to Doss and tells him, 'I really thought I was blind!'
I get that things happen, awful things at that. Some that the world force upon you and others of your own doing, but you learn to dust yourself off and move on. You're not blind!
Short of severing your spirit open and surgically removing Christ from you, He's there. You're not the initiator of this covenant and it doesn't stand in place because of you. If that were the case we would all be doomed. This covenant stands by Him, through Him and for Him. Am I saying now that you should keep on sinning? God forbid! On the contrary, you should feel such gratitude for The One that have paid the price to set you free that you would never wish to go back and put a chain around your neck in service to your wants. Fight and fight hard not just mildly with your inclinations. Go wash, or mend your broken bones and train, train until it hurts, so that you know how to walk with your eyes wide open! I am not telling you anything new. You know all this!

 I apologize for ranting, but I kind of had no choice. If you found this article confusing, that's alright. I doubt it will be the last time I confuse people with something I write :)

by Cristina Pop