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SEPTEMBER: Life in Christ

September 21

CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:3

The Christian experience is a definite and a certain experience--"that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us." Now if people do not know what they have, how can they wish for others to share it with them? So that is the starting point--that the Christian experience is not a vague one; it is not indefinite or uncertain. Rather, it is a well-defined experience, and true Christians know what they have; they are aware of what they possess. They are in no uncertainty themselves as to what has happened to them as to their personal position. "These things write we unto you," says John, "that your joy may be full"--that you may share what we have. You cannot invite someone to share something with you unless you know exactly what you are asking him to share.

We are dealing with what may be called the great New Testament doctrine of the assurance of salvation, which has been subjected to considerable criticism. People have regarded it as presumption. They have said this is something that is impossible, and that no one should be able to claim such a thing.

But John is a man who tells us that he knows, and it is because he knows and because of what he has experienced that he is writing. Christians are not men and women who are hoping for salvation, but those who have experienced it. They have it; there is no uncertainty. They "know whom [they] have believed" (2 Timothy 1:12); and it is because John has possessed this that he writes about it.

A Thought to Ponder
Christians are not men and women who are hoping for salvation, but those who have experienced it.

From Fellowship with God, pp. 57-58.



Today’s devo is taken from Walking with God Day by Day © 2003 by Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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