Glorious, unanticipated joy

"Salvation is from the Lord."
Jonah 2:9

It's amazing, considering the mood of my last post, that I should be writing about joy. But that is what I feel right now. It is so wonderful. Let me back up a few hours.

I was sitting in my room earlier tonight, just minding my own business, and dwelling on a harmless theological question. I was wondering which came first: regeneration or confession. That is, is it our confession of sin that causes us to be born again or are we born again first which causes us to confess? I decided that regeneration comes first. I could be wrong, but that's not really relevant to this post. That question led me to the realization that my very act of repentance is an act of God, a working of grace in my heart. We are born with a depraved nature. We "have all turned aside" (Psalm 14:3). We are incapable on our own of coming to God.

Where am I going with this? A big part of my depression that I mentioned in my last post had been my assurance of salvation (or lack thereof). I had started to question whether I really was born of the Spirit or not. Thoughts leaning toward the negative answer had left me bitter. I was occasionally angry with God. I had confessed my sins. I had been broken over them to the point of tears. Had God not held up His end of the bargain?

But salvation is not a bargain. What can I offer to God? The entire universe is His property. There is nothing that I have that I could trade with. Even my acts of so-called righteousness "are like a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:6). So, what is salvation? Grace. "[I]t is the gift of God... so that no one may boast." (Eph. 2:8-9) We can only be saved by the Father drawing us to Christ (John 6:44). Conclusion: The very fact that I have truly repented is a result of the work of God. Will God accept my repentance? Of course He will. He's the one who worked in me to repent in the first place.

Salvation is not us coming to God, begging for forgiveness, and God begrudgingly consenting. He doesn't sigh and say, "All right, since you asked nicely." God says instead, "I have called you by name; you are Mine!" (Isaiah 43:1) It is He who comes to us and works salvation in us.

If you are in Christ, "[t]ake courage... your sins are forgiven." (Matt. 9:2)

For Christ,
Daniel