You can be sure

When he “knows” you, he will never forget you. You can be certain of your salvation. Not because of your words or works, but because of his. You have his word on it: “Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). From the moment you “believed in him,” you received eternal life.

“Whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:26). You have eternal life, right now. You will never perish. When you breathe your last here, you breathe your first in heaven.

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). You are a new creation, a child of God. You can't return to where you were before you met Christ.

Even if we have an existential crisis, even if we turn away for a while, even if we sin again (which we will), even if we have doubts, we can still rest knowing that Jesus will never let us go.

The story from Mark 9 provides immense encouragement when we have had doubts. A father has a demon-possessed son, who had been possessed since his childhood. He had an episode of tragic suffering right at the feet of Jesus, “foaming at the mouth” and having convulsions (Mark 9:20).

The father, desperate, asks Jesus to heal the boy, saying, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us!” To which Jesus replies, “All things are possible for one who believes.”

“Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’”

What a beautiful statement, “I believe, help my unbelief!”

Even when we are beset by doubt, we can cry out with the desperate father. Our relationship with Jesus will hold firm because Jesus is the strong one, not us. We are his children. We are in his omnipotent hand.

Have you doubted your salvation in the past?

Are you doubting right now?

Identify areas in your life where you are not fully surrendering to God or where you doubt his promises.

Do you believe, fully, that God will hold you fast?

If not, pray for belief.

If you are still beset by doubts, that’s OK. Ask Jesus to help you with your doubts.

Learn to trust in him even while you have those doubts, and remember: he holds you fast through it all!