“Whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:5-6 ESV).
In John’s first epistle, he tells us that he wrote it in order that believers in Jesus might “know that they have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). John makes it clear that “everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God” (1 John 5:1). Yet, he also makes it clear that those who have truly believed will begin to show certain evidences of abiding in Christ Jesus.
John says that those who truly know and believe in Jesus will “keep his word.” They will obey His Word. Their obedience results in assurance of salvation, greater love for God, and lives that become increasingly like the life of Christ. So our assurance of salvation comes not only in knowing that we have believed in Christ, but also in having a new and growing desire to bring every area of our lives into alignment with His.
Have you confessed Jesus as Lord and trusted in His sacrifice on the cross for your sins? Have you believed that God raised Him from the dead? If so, then the Word says you have been saved (Rom. 10:9). Yet assurance of salvation comes not only from knowing this, but also in a changed life that increasingly becomes more and more like Christ’s.
PRAYER: Dear Father, we have believed in Your Son, yet help us to grow in our faithfulness to abide in Him and to follow Him in all things. In Jesus’ name, amen.