Looking in All the Wrong Places
April 30th, 2010 by J.W.M.
“There are many who, like Thomas, are longing for some sensible assurance of the love of Christ, beyond the general declarations of the Bible. They want some inward token that they are born again, some sensible assurance of their acceptance, before they believe and commit their souls wholly to Jesus. They desire to be Christians, but want to know that they have been converted before they trust. This is precisely the error of Thomas. They want the evidence of sense, rather than of faith. They want some inward work in the heart, as a ground of faith, rather than the outward work of Christ, offered in the gospel. Such an assurance will not be given them. Their warrant to believe is in the Word, and to give them any other warrant would be to dishonour that, and to thrust their hands into the Saviour’s side before believing. They must go to Jesus, just as they are, cast themselves on his mercy, and believe that he will do as he has promised, pardon, purify, and save, and then the benediction shall descend upon them, ‘Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.’ They will soon need no other evidence that they have been born again, than the conscious operation of the new life that works within them. They will not so much inquire whether they are spiritually alive, as they will not think of doubting it. In the gradual unfolding of every filial affection, and the instinctive exercise of every filial feeling, the Spirit will witness with their spirits that they are the sons of God.”
(T.V. Moore, The Last Days of Jesus (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1981), 86-87)
