“Confidence In the Relationship”

    A Christ-secured and sealed salvation makes possible a relationship with God based on assurance rather than uncertainty.

     “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (II Timothy 1:12).

    A significant aspect of confidence in God involves confidence in the relationship He provides to us through the Lord Jesus. We approach our Heavenly Father always and only by the person and work of His Son, as led and enabled by the Holy Spirit.  While our performance in the relationship certainly affects the consistency of our response to God, never do we come to Him through our own merits.

     “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh; and having a High Priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19-22).

    So long as we come to God with a humble and trusting heart in the Lord Jesus, we may always come.  It matters not how faithful we perceive ourselves to have been in the relationship, or how faithless.  We “enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us.”  The born again believer who increasingly recognizes this singular way of grace will find himself far more likely to avail himself of the bond with God that elicits growth in godliness and faithfulness.  The Lord Jesus originated our relationship with our Heavenly Father, He maintains it, and He calls us to have much confidence in our access to the very heart of God.  “We have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him” (Ephesians3:12).

      We all find ourselves at times having failed to avail ourselves of the amazing gift of communion with our Lord.    The temptation is great to believe that our failure to relate to Him in the past disqualifies us from communication in the present.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  So long as we come with a heart that trusts in Christ alone for our access, we may come.  Those things that need to take place once we arrive at the throne of God will be addressed, of course, and we recognize our need for correction.  Most importantly, however, we do not fail to come, and we do not fail to rejoice in the gift of relationship with God.  It is a gift.  It is always a gift, and with the hymnist, we joyfully and forever make our approach through Christ…

    “Nothing in my hands I bring, only to Thy cross I cling!”

“Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.”(Ephesians 2:18)