HOPE AND SELF-ASSURANCE
Romans 15.4.12-13
Hope is not often mentioned in the Bible, but it has place among three most important Spiritual qualities that GOD require from each believer in Him.
1Corinthians 13.13
13. "And now Faith, Hope, and Love, abide these three and the greatest of these is Love."
Romans 8.20.24-25
20. "the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the One Who subjected it in Hope,
24. In Hope we were saved. Now Hope that is seen is not Hope. Who Hopes for what is seen? (John 20.29).
25. But if we Hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."
NRSV
We cannot be sure of anything at all, not on Earth and nether in Spiritual Heaven. Many promises of GOD concerning Salvation are given in general terminology and in figurative form in order that the hearer and the reader of His Words will pay attention to that He is saying.
Salvation has many conditions and then we follow these conditions we Hope that we are doing everything right and Hope to be saved.
Majority of the Christian prefer only general Statements related to Salvation but fully ignoring the Conditions that lead to Salvation upon which the Salvation is based and activated.
10 Spiritual Commandments of the Law of Moses are the best example of such Spiritual Conditions and those who fulfill them have true Hope for salvation of the soul.
Paul expressing the same theme in many of his letters urging people not to give up patience and endurance in the following the Gospel of Christ but also advising readers to have besides strong Faith also and strong Hope in the promises of Christ and wait patiently for Christ to come. Christ will come to everyone who patiently and Hopefully wait for Him.
We are not saved according to our own will and to our own assurance as many Christians believe today. Only in our patience and perseverance we wait eagerly and Hope for our salvation.
Verses 12 and 13 specifically indicated that our Hope must be only on GOD and on His power. We must rely only on Him for our well-being and for our eternal salvation and Hope that we deserve His Great Mercy. His Great Sacrifice gave us Hope and we wait patiently and with endurance that our Hope will come true.
GOD does promised Salvation to all, but only those who have Hope and Faith in Him, will receive His salvation. According to our own Hope and Faith in Him we will receive that we are waiting for, His Eternal Salvation, because He will judge us according to our Faith and according to our Deeds, and not according to our own wishes or will or self-righteousness.
It is not on our own assurance and believe we will receive Salvation, but we should Hope in GOD that He would find us worthy of the Eternal Life and give us this for which we Hope for, the Eternal Life.
Those who teach and said that they are already receive their Salvation and already saved simply do not telling the truth, unless they know the method of how to save themselves without approval of GOD, relying only on His general Statement about Salvation and ignoring the Conditions and details of the way to salvation.
If we have Hope in GOD, this means we also Hope in everything He said, teach, proclaimed to us, and told us to do, and for this reason our self-assurance or our own will have no place in our worship and service of GOD.
Many things Christians do in the Name of GOD, but far not all things that they do will be approved by GOD (Matthew 7.21-23).
In other words: "For, not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends." 2Corinthians 10.18