How will I know

If you were to walk into my house on a nice fall or spring day, you would probably find my wife in the kitchen making something amazing and blaring some 80s pop music. She loves her 80s music and one of her favorites is “How Will I Know” by Whitney Houston. The song is about a girl asking her friends how she is ever going to know that this man loves her the way she loves him. At the end of the song, Whitney just keeps repeating “How Will I Know?” “ “How Will I Know?”

I was reminded of this song one morning as I was praying and reading my Bible. I was having a particularly tough morning, though I don’t remember why, but I do remember asking God how can I know? How can I know God that I’m secure in you, forgiven and even loved? Now this is certainly not anything new for me, but I wonder how many other Christians might say they also feel unsure sometimes if God loves them. Well, I know that Gods word is truth, and truth is something we can bank on, so let’s look at Gods word to see what He has to say about this. 

In Romans chapter 5 verses 6-11, we see: For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Okay, so I want to make sure that we really understand what is being said here because it is the basis of everything that we need to know. All humans have been born having zero regard for God or the things of God, and not only that, we are helpless to change any of that. God knew this and instead of saying, “Well, I told them what to do, it’s on them,” He literally crushed His son to satisfy the wrath and penalty that we deserve because He loves us that much. We were literally His enemies when He did this, and now, if you are a believer, you have been reconciled to God because of this, and it was literally something that was given to you that you didn’t have to earn.  

Now you might say, “Yeah, that’s all great, Aaron, but I mess up every day, and I just know that God can’t forgive me now because I have done x, y, or z.” Beloved, if you are in Christ, you are in Christ forever, and nothing, I mean nothing, can ever change that, see Romans 8:31-39. Now that, of course, doesn’t mean that we should do things that are sinful on purpose, see Romans 6:1-2, but when we do sin, we can now go to God on the basis of what Jesus has done and deal with it because He wants to forgive us and restore us, see 1 John 1:9. I want all of us who know Christ to remember that Jesus has already paid the price of Gods wrath when He took the punishment on that cross, and because of that, we can know that He loves us and He is always true to His word, see Numbers 23:19. 

"I have given God countless reasons not to love me. None of them has been strong enough to change Him.” - PAUL WASHER

Today, if you don’t know Jesus, I want you to know that you can know Gods forgiveness as well, and He wants to save you. I know this is true because 2 Peter 3:9 says, “ The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” Turn to Jesus today and know His love and forgiveness.