But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
If asked, most people would positively affirm that they are Christian. They would be so confident in their response that you would not be able to find a loophole in their reply.
But as much as we would love it to be so, not everyone that names the name of Christ truly belongs to Christ.
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
II Timothy 2:19 (kjv)
So, I will risk ruffling some feathers and say that not everyone present in church is truly born again, unless we all want to deceive ourselves.
My desire though is that those that are not truly saved become convicted, and turn to God genuinely.
It is not enough for you to confidently assert yourself as a Christian, a child of God. It is not enough to successfully convince anyone that asks you if you a Christian that you are a Christian. It is only when the Spirit of God bears witness that you are indeed a child of God that you can be rest assured that you are.
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
Romans 8:15, 16 (kjv)
Therefore, if you have successfully convinced yourself that you are a born again without first having the inner witness of the Spirit, you have missed something crucial, and you are living in self-deception.
But once this happens; once the Spirit of God bears witness within you, you don’t need the validation of any man before you can be certain that you are born again.
I reckon that everyone knows his true state.
There is one sure way that you can tell if a person is indeed born again; spiritual growth.
If you are alive you grow. Someone that is dead does not grow.
We are not strangers to the concept of the new birth being likened to natural birth and in principle, the two are not so different.
Just as growth is expected physically, growth is also expected spiritually. People are able to ignore spiritual stagnancy because it is not as easy to note spiritual stagnation as physical stagnation.
You can tell that a person is not growing physically when you look at him but it is easy to miss the signs of spiritual stagnancy, unless you take care to observe.
Please stay tuned for the next of this two part series.
We will be sharing the danger of spiritual stagnancy, and the keys to tracking and sustaining spiritual growth.
Chimnomnso Eze (Chino)
Chino is a leader in a students-based church in Kharkiv Ukraine. He serves as a minister, brother’s coordinator and assistant choir director. He is passionate about spiritual leadership and consecrated service to God.
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