Eternal Security

WHY AM I UNDERWATER? I wondered. Disoriented, I instinctively waved my arms until I felt the side of the pool. While simultaneously spitting out water and gasping for air, I started to cry for help, which was futile since I was home alone. But I wasn’t really alone. I whispered, “Help, Lord!” Suddenly the steps were in reach, and I grabbed the handrail for support. I vaguely remember stumbling through the side door to my bedroom, falling into bed, and pulling the covers over my wet bathing suit.

While processing what had just happened, I cried tears of gratefulness that the Lord had spared me. But I also thanked Him, because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I had drowned, I would have gone to heaven. At the time, I didn’t realize this was another incident where I had blacked out due to my heart stopping for a brief moment. When doctors later figured out what was happening and I learned of my miracle, I sang verses I’d put to a tune years before. Now they took on new meaning:

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

A few verses later, the psalmist writes that he can’t wait to broadcast the amazing things God has done for him (verse 28). I feel the same way, which is why I share this story.

My family, friends, and doctor forbade me to swim laps again until a pacemaker, regulating the electrical function of my heart, solved my health issue—at least for now. The reality is that death is inevitable for all of us, which makes eternal security our greatest need. We have an enemy who will stop at nothing to steal our hope of heaven. Don’t listen to him!

When my mother was close to death, she requested that caregivers read her stories about heaven. The Bible and Randy Alcorn’s comprehensive book entitled Heaven were her only consolation. Her hope was secure that she would soon make the journey from earth to heaven and have no more pain when she met her Savior face-to-face. But in her early years, she rarely thought about eternal security.

When life is full, it’s natural to focus on the here and now rather than on what’s to come. It’s also a challenge to believe in God and heaven while living in a secular culture. There was a time when I doubted my security in Christ. College textbooks and liberal professors disputed my beliefs with half-truths, which I was unable to refute because of weak theology. By God’s grace, however, both Mom and I began to grasp our eternal security when we filled our minds with the transforming truth of God’s Word.

I’m writing this devotion in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. My heart aches for everyone impacted by the virus, including my missionary daughter’s family. Although they don’t doubt their eternal security, they serve people who are without the hope of heaven, people who desperately need to hear the Good News: If we trust Jesus to forgive our sins, we have eternal life, and one day Jesus will return to take us to heaven.

By the time you read this, Lord willing, the pandemic will have passed; yet the importance of the gospel will always remain. We don’t need to travel across the world to share our faith. What about your friend, neighbor, relative, or coworker—have they heard the simple gospel message? Are they certain that their final destination is heaven? Are you? Don’t base facts on feelings, which fluctuate. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). This is our sure hope!

There is no greater privilege and call to action than to share our hope of eternal security with everyone who will listen:

The testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

REFLECTION

If you doubt your salvation, spend time reading God’s Word to remind yourself of what is true. Then ask God to bring people to mind who need to know His good news. You may have already memorized the three verses above from 1 John, but if not, write them on a card or commit them to memory. Pray for the courage and opportunity to share the gospel with people in your sphere so that they may also experience the joy and assurance of eternal security.