Feb 13 – Run with Assurance!

“Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.” (1 Corinthians 9:26)

Some people run simply because everyone else is running. Some run thinking, “Since I’ve somehow come onto the race track, I might as well finish.” Others run by watching and imitating those around them. Observing all this, the apostle Paul examined himself and wrote, “I do not run with uncertainty… I do not fight as one who beats the air.”

Yes, how essential it is to run with assurance! If there is no firm certainty in this race, you will not be able to stand when the winds of trial blow or when sufferings come like a storm. Wind, rain, and fire will test your resolve—what will your condition be then?

How many truly have the assurance that even if they were to die today, they would be found in the Kingdom of God? How many have the confidence that if the Lord Jesus Christ were to return in glory today, they would be found ready at His coming? For many, the honest answer is no. What will they do when the Lord comes like a thief? What will be their state in eternity if they face an unexpected death?

Do you have the assurance of salvation? Do you have the certainty that your sins are forgiven? Are you abiding in the joy of salvation? If you have not yet been saved, come with genuine repentance, confess your sins, and receive the assurance of forgiveness through the blood of Christ.

Receiving the assurance of the Holy Spirit is essential. Scripture says, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13).

Make your calling and election sure. If the Lord’s calling upon your life is true, then He will surely sustain you and clothe you. If He clothes the lilies of the field, is it not much more certain that He will clothe you? (see Matthew 6:30).

We read in Scripture that when Abraham received God’s call, he obeyed the word of the Lord without knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). We also read that the apostle Paul “concluded that the Lord had called us” (Acts 16:10). Children of God, having received God’s calling, serve Him with assurance. That assurance will surely lead you into victory.

Verse for further meditation: For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17)