Doubt is a troublemaker.
I used to struggle with doubt about my salvation. I was stressing myself for years about whether or not I was really saved. One day when I was at a low point in my life and pretty much totally dependent on God whether I liked it or not; I was asking to God in a roundabout way to help me to be sure I was saved; it must have been the Holy Spirit that led me to this verse in my Bible. John 3:14-15 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
I guess the Holy Spirit poked me when I read that verse because the next thing, I did was find the verse in the Old Testament where Moses lifted up the serpent and found this: Numbers 21:8-9 “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. If anyone who was bitten looked at the bronze snake, he would live.”
I thought to myself…. that was easy. In fact, that was really easy! It’s not complicated. All they had to do was look. All I had to do was……. believe. The choice to “believe”. Make a choice to “believe”. I kept going over this in my mind and saying it out loud. I was baffled as to why I had not seen it before. We all think we have to work or do the right things to be saved. We make it more complicated than it has to be when all we have to do is look and live or believe and live! It takes no effort at all to turn your head and look to the cross.
The doubt left me that day. I just believed and I knew that I believed and that’s all I had to do…. (well, you have to agree that you are a sinner in need of a savior of course) was agree with God and believe. I chose to believe and not doubt. I trust what Jesus did on the cross as my only way to heaven and I no longer doubt that.
It’s a done deal.
John 19:28-30 – After this, Jesus, [a]knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.