July 4

It is just as the Scripture says: “Anyone who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” — Rom 10:11 BSB

A child of God may often struggle with doubts about whether they have any faith at all. When they read about what faith has accomplished and what it can do, and then see how little it seems to have done for them, they might wonder if they’ve ever truly had the faith of God’s elect. This leads them to ask, “Do I even have a single grain of saving faith?” But the very fact that they are asking this question is evidence that they do have faith. It’s that very faith that causes them to see and feel their unbelief and makes them concerned about it. It’s the light of God shining into their soul that reveals their sins—their nature and their number, the guilt of them, and the burden they place on the conscience—and exposes the workings of an unbelieving heart. But beyond this, if they had no faith at all, they wouldn’t be able to hear God’s voice in the gospel, nor receive it as a message of mercy. So they do have faith, even if they don’t yet have the clear evidence of it or the deep comfort it brings. This faith will save their soul because “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”—meaning God never regrets the gifts he gives or the calling he grants. If he has ever blessed you with faith, no matter how small that faith may seem to you, he will not take it away. Instead, he will nurture it, fanning the faintest flame until it grows. He won’t abandon the work of his hands, for “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

So if, even once in your life, you’ve felt the gospel to be the power of God for salvation; if you’ve had one true glimpse of Christ by living faith; if, for even just a moment, under the influence of his Spirit, you’ve laid hold of him and felt that he was yours—then your soul is as secure as if you were continually basking in the river that makes glad the city of God, drinking deeply from the honey and milk of the gospel, and walking all day long in the light of his gracious presence. This isn’t to say that you should be content with a cold, weak, or dying faith, but simply to affirm that when it comes to salvation, it’s not the amount of faith but its reality that saves the soul.