To fully enjoy the comfort & assurance of your fully accomplished salvation, you must make every effort!
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1
Q. What is your only comfort in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul, in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
Read / Listen
Read 2 Peter 1:3-11
Listen to passage & devotional:
Summary
Maybe you've heard the trite little Christian saying that "Jesus + nothing = everything." Peter would have loved it! It nicely summarizes the opening statement of his second letter:
Christ's power:
has given us everything we need;
through our knowledge of Him;
since:
He called us by His own glory and goodness
and He has given us His promises.
It's truths like this that provide you with the 'assurance of eternal life' that the Catechism mentions. Your certainty comes from the fact that Christ has fully accomplished your salvation, and there's nothing you need to add to it.
Yet Peter prescribes more addition! In v5 he writes, make every effort to add... not to your salvation, because that's complete in Christ, but add to your faith.
He repeats this command to make every effort again in v10, and this time he explains why: to confirm your calling and election.
So certainly be assured of your salvation, but at the same time make every effort to live a godly life. The good works that result from these efforts will bolster the assurance and confidence you've already been given.
Dig Deeper
This famous first question and answer of the Catechism is like a warm blanket in a cold world, reminding you that your future is fully secured in Christ. But notice that even these words of comfort end with a call to action to 'wholeheartedly live for Him.'
This is one of the great tensions of Christianity. Certainly rest in the thought that Christ is 'your only comfort in life and in death,' but in order to fully enjoy this rest you must continually make every effort to gratefully respond to the gift you've been given.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father who has set His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ over His eternal kingdom (v11);
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray for the strength to make every effort to live wholeheartedly for Christ.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year, a chapter a day - Mark 4
