Many people, like my Pastor, would say he’s completely sure of his salvation. Then there is the verse, “. . .  the Holy Spirit witnesses to our spirit . . .” God wants us to know. If I’m never sure, is this the Holy Spirit telling me that I’m not right with God?

I have covered all of this elsewhere in my writings but in desperation I’ll give it one last shot before moving on.

Other people feel assured of their salvation not because they receive more assurance than those who doubt but because they are content with what to the doubt-plagued would be nothing like sufficient assurance of salvation.

It is not that this pastor had received more signs from God confirming his salvation. Although she would not believe it, this dear woman has most likely already received more signs than him. Neither is it that he has more faith than her or is a better Christian.

The key difference between them is that she is afflicted with an anxiety disorder. In every other respect she is fine, but a minor, rarely understood, medical/psychological abnormality keeps triggering a false alarm in her brain. Since alarms triggered by a malfunction look, sound and feel like the real thing, this false alarm feels exactly as if there must be something terribly wrong. Because she believes nothing could be more serious than her eternal destiny, she needlessly worries that this must be what the alarm is about. And just as speaking to an alarm will never silence it, so no amount of assurance could silence the alarm blaring inside her.

She could receive literally a hundred times more assurance than her pastor has ever had –enough warm fuzzy feelings to heat a small town for three winters, goose bumps the size of eggs, ear-splitting audible voices, IMAX sized, movie length, commercial free visions, writing in the sky until there is no space for more, so many heavenly visitations that angels are causing traffic jams as they line up to deliver their comforting messages to her door, verses about forgiveness in flashing neon print with cherubs chanting, “This applies to you. This applies to you. . . .” whenever she opens the Bible, miracles and answers to prayer that would stagger Saint Paul, and every other inconceivable sign from heaven – but within a few days, or weeks at most, the impact of it all would fade like the setting sun until she is again huddled in darkness.

She would be back in as much doubt as ever; grossly insulting God by rejecting it all and complaining about him not giving her enough reassurance. She would have initially thought it inconceivable that she could ever return to doubt. From my experience with literally hundreds of people suffering from this, however, I know it would happen. She would find some Scripture she had never noticed before or some interpretation of it she had never before thought of, or hear some scary testimony or some fiery sermon, and the effect of everything she had experienced would evaporate like life-giving pools of water in a blazing desert. She would begin to wonder whether all those supernatural signs had been a demonically-engineered delusion or that maybe it had been God but it has now been cancelled by some new sin she has committed so that it applied only back then, and now she is back to insulting God by fearing she is eternally lost.

The problem is not insufficient assurance of salvation, nor that she lacks faith, but her faith must be in Jesus, not in signs and feelings, because only Jesus lasts. She must stop expecting doubts to vanish and be committed to believing, no matter how incessantly the doubts rage.

Not to be sold. © Copyright, 2015 Grantley Morris. Not to be copied in whole or in part without citing this entire paragraph. Many more compassionate, inspiring, sometimes hilarious writings by Grantley Morris available free at the following internet site www.net-burst.com Freely you have received, freely give.