Quote from Guest on January 13, 2021, 4:00 pm
I very much relate too. It feels like a big risk to choose to not dive into all the thoughts and feelings of uncertainty. The thing is we cannot answer with 100% certainty all the what if’s that come along, and that’s what drives the fears with ocd, we cannot stand any level of uncertainty. Thing is, without uncertainties, there’s no need of faith.
Now I want to tell you something that is sure, and that is God loves you unconditionally! Being perfect, righteous, and just, He loves us but hates our sin. Ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden when mankind decided to disregard God and honor on their own, we all have been born in that sin and do also willfully sin. God says the soul that sins shall die, meaning eternal separation from God. He loves us so much that He came to earth in flesh(Jesus Christ), lived sinless as our substitute, and then lovingly took on Himself all our sins/iniquities and took our condemnation and death penalty for us, again as our substitute! Being God, Jesus arose 3 days later, proving He was God in flesh, the Son, and proving that God was satisfied with the sin payment He made. Isaiah 53 tells us God(the Father) saw the travail of His(Jesus’) soul(on the cross) and was satisfied. Romans 5:6 says “when we were yet without any strength or ability(to save ourselves), in due time Christ died for the ungodly sinner.” 1 Cor 15:2-4 clearly tells us the gospel, the good news of our salvation, how that Jesus died for our sins(in our place), was buried and rose again. Eph 2:8,9 says “we are saved by His grace(Jesus/the cross) through faith, and that(saving) is not of ourselves but is a gift, not of any works of our own”. So we are saved entirely by what Jesus has already accomplished for us on the cross over 2000 years ago.
Salvation is not something God does TO US when we ask Him for it or surrender our lives to Him or get baptized or try to live doing good. Rather, it is something Christ has already finished and accomplished FOR US when He took our sin penalty on Himself, thus saving us from it, leaving us no condemnation and no sins to ever pay for again. All He asks us to “do” is take Him at His Word(faith), simply believing/trusting that Jesus has indeed accomplished our salvation by taking our sins penalty for us. Eph 1:13, 14a says “in Whom(Jesus) you also trusted after you heard the gospel, the good news of your salvation, believing it, you were sealed by the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of your eternal redemption”. Dear fellow ocd’er, if you simply recognize that you are a helpless sinner and cannot save yourself, and simply believe God, trusting that Jesus has already taken all the condemnation for your sin, you are eternally sealed by God Himself, for He has declared it(John 3:16).
God’s declaration or receipt that your sins are paid for is found throughout His Word. Example verses as proof of your/our salvation are seen in places like Colossians 2:14 where He says He has “blotted out the laws(we broke/break) that stand against us...and took them all out of the way, nailing them to His cross.” Right before Jesus gave up His life on the cross, He declared, “it is finished”, which in the Greek means paid in full. That can be found in John 19:30. So He has accomplished and finished our salvation already, and we need only to believe that and rest in it as our only hope for heaven.
When those thoughts of having faith in Satan come up, you can choose to ignore them. For if you believe/know that Jesus has already taken care of your sins(as God says), then you do already have faith in Jesus as Savior and logically wouldn’t see Satan as any type of deliverer. The penalty of sin is death and that is just what Jesus has already gone through for and as us, so there is nothing standing between us(who believe) and God. He has promised that “all who come to me(trust Me/what I’ve done), I will never cast out”. So the question isn’t any type of “did I”(did I surrender my life, live just right, ask Jesus to save me, get baptized, go to church enough...) but rather is “did He”. Did Jesus as my substitute live perfect for me, take my sins on Himself and surrender up His life unto death, pay for all my sins and rose again? God says He has done so.