Late one night while studying in my room at college, a friend—a brother in Christ, in fact—burst through my door in a panic concerning his relationship with Christ. He had just come from meeting with someone who had offered to give him some spiritual mentorship and guidance. Sadly, what he left with was doubt about whether he truly had been born again and if the baptism he’d received years prior had been proper.  

We do well to agree that no two conversions to Christ are alike. The Spirit works with us where we are and understands our uniqueness as individuals. I know several people who had dramatic conversion experiences that seemed to have happened in an instant. However, my conversion to Christ was more like ceding ground one acre at a time until, over time, there was simply no more ground left for Christ to take. What’s important is that once we place our faith in Christ, we are truly “in Christ” and are full-on sons and daughters of our good and loving heavenly Father. Why is this important? I tend to agree with the great missionary E. Stanley Jones who said that “people need nothing, absolutely nothing, as much as they need the simple assurance that they are reconciled to God. If unhealed at that place, they wear a mortal hurt.”1 

One of the key understandings of salvation in the Wesleyan tradition is the “assurance of salvation.” In other words, we can indeed know that we are saved. This was what John Wesley experienced on May 24, 1738, when his heart was “strangely warmed.” He describes the experience, by stating, “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”2 From where did such an assurance come? From God through the Holy Spirit. Paul writes about such assurance in this way, “The [Holy] Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16, NIV). In His lovingkindness and mercy, God wants us to live with assurance that we are His children. 

What are the means through which the Spirit assures us that we are forgiven sinners who now live as the beloved sons and daughters of our heavenly Father? First and foremost, we must begin with the Scriptures. “[God] assures us through the Word. Nothing can be more explicit than Christ came to save sinners. People did not wait until they were good enough to come to Him. They came as they were, and they were made good in the very coming.”3 The Apostle John reminds us of this truth in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  

We are also assured by the actions of Jesus in the Gospels. For example, He tells the woman caught in adultery, “neither do I condemn you. Go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:11). He tells the sinful tax-collector Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house…” (Luke 19:9). Jones encourages us to be assured that “The love of God shining through those specific acts [of Jesus] will not deal differently with me. He forgave and restored them; He forgives and restores me.”4 

Assurance is also seen by the change the Holy Spirit works in our lives. Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:16-20). Paul writes to the church in Galatia that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” If we are becoming more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled toward others (and ourselves), then we can be assured that we are connected to Christ and His new life is at work within us. This does not mean that the fruit is fully matured. By God’s grace and the work of the Holy Spirit it can and will grow.   

Back to my friend. After some time talking through important Scriptures on assurance and the evidence of Christ’s work in and through his life, my friend realized that Jesus had no problem with how he had come to faith. Today, he still walks with Christ in humble confidence through the power and assurance of the Spirit. May we do the same.