“Depart from Me! I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23), said JESUS to…you? “Am I really a Christian?” That is the question that every person who professes to be a Christian must ask and then answer for his or her self. I can say, based on the words of GOD found in the pages of the Bible, it is not enough to simply ask JESUS into your heart as your Savior and to have Him make you into a Christian and then publicly declare your new-found faith—as is so often done in today’s churches when they invite people to “pray to be saved”. GOD demands that we also submit our will to His will and make JESUS our Lord…to do what He says. JESUS said, “It is he who endures to the end who will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22)

GOD had the Apostle John write a letter that we now know as the book of 1 John to tell anyone who professes to be a Christian how to unequivocally determine if they are, in fact, a Christian in GOD’s eyes as opposed to merely believing that they are a Christian in their own eyes or other people’s eyes. To read 1 John and discover that GOD Himself says that your are indeed a Christian is most joyful and empowering. To find that GOD contradicts your assertion that you are a Christian is at first terribly painful—but at the same time also empowering…for GOD has given you a chance to become a Christian—and then to stay a Christian—and to know it for certain. Either way…you win when you read 1 John and honestly asses yourself by it.

Will you?