“It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” Genesis 50:15
Here you are a child of God, forgiven and reconciled to Him, but if you were asked, “Will you go to heaven when you die?” you would say, “I hope so.” The reason you would say, “I hope so” is that you are not really sure. You would like to think that this will happen, but you lack confidence. You don’t really have peace about it.
This problem is common among Christian people and it is usually referred to as “the problem of assurance.” A person is forgiven, and reconciled to God, but he or she is unsure about the relationship with Him. You fear that God may harbor some ill will toward you, and that in the end He is going to get you.
Joseph’s brothers give us a perfect picture of this problem. It has been seventeen years since they were reconciled with Joseph, and still they are afraid that all this kindness was just for the sake of the old man, and in the end, he will hate them and repay them for what they have done.
How, as a Christian, can you deal with this fear? How can you establish assurance and confidence in your standing before God as a son or daughter who is truly forgiven and reconciled?
On a scale of 1 (no confidence) to 10 (complete confidence), how would you describe your assurance or lack of assurance in your standing before God?
