Benefits of Assurance

The passage before us today can seem difficult to understand at first glance. “Be … diligent to make your call and election sure,” we are told. This is an unambiguous mandate to pursue assurance of salvation. In other words, it is a command. We tend to think of assurance not as something we can gain by our own efforts but as something that just happens to us, something we either have or do not have. But this passage, besides implying that assurance of salvation is real and attainable, is telling us that it needs to be a priority for us, something we strive to get. The reason, as the passage also makes clear, is that assurance is a significant aid to our Christian walks.

Peter tells us that by making our call and election sure, we will “never stumble” (v. 10). Is he saying that we ourselves can guarantee our salvation by giving attention to the acquisition of assurance? The remainder of Scripture testifies clearly that we can do nothing to earn salvation. Rather, Peter is affirming that gaining assurance of salvation will help us make real progress in the Christian life. The race will become smoother and we will see ourselves becoming more Christlike. Why? Because we no longer will be relying on our own pitiable efforts but on the grace of God, which saves and sanctifies us.

The apostle says something similar earlier in the passage, urging his readers to “add to your faith” (v. 5) virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. This list is similar to Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23), those character traits the Spirit creates in believers as He makes them more like Christ. Peter then goes on to say that if these attributes are present in a believer’s life, he or she will not be “unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” As we gain assurance, our walk with Christ becomes closer, and we grow more like Him and bear fruit for His kingdom.

Finally, Peter writes that for those who gain true assurance, “an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Again, it is not that gaining assurance gets us into heaven. Rather, the attainment of assurance serves as an entrance into the abundance of Christ’s kingdom. When we walk with Him in full assurance that we are His children, spiritual blessings such as we have never known rain down upon us.