Blessed Assurance (part 1)

(Just so you know, the title is the name of a Hymn not something I came up with)

First I thought I would talk about what sort of stuff pops in my head when I think of AoS. Really, most of the context I have for assurance of salvation is my own personal experience of it. I haven't spent much time talking with other people about the permanance of their own salvation in Christ. When I first became a Christian the question of whether I could lose it didn't came to my mind by myself. I guess I always assumed that salvation is something that God does to us, not something we do ourselves. That meant that God would have to be the one to change his mind, not me, and I didn't think that he could do that. Also, as a child I also didn't have much opportunity to get involved in sins that would provoke doubt. There weren't many things that happened on a daily basis that seemed wrong or counter to what people talked about at church. Being a Christian is just part of who I was.. like being male. I wouldn't stop knowing about Jesus, and he wouldn't stop knowing at me.. so how could one of us lose the other?

The first time I heard about someone having a problem with that was when my Mom told me that one of her friends was always nervous about "unbecoming" a Christian and losing her relationship with Christ. Even without thinking about any verses that just seemed wrong. Whenever this lady did something she thought was really bad she prayed that the Lord would save her, in case He had left after she messed up. After I heard about this possibility it stuck with me. Mom said that she didn't think that it was possible to become un-saved because of what she had read at the end of Romans 8. That's where Paul lists the things that cannot separate us from the Love of Christ. It's a long list.