A life without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing. Every day we ought to renew our purpose, saying to ourselves: This day let us make a sound beginning, for what we have hitherto done is nought. —Thomas à Kempis
Okay, so I’m not the best at navigating through new territory (hear my wife snicker). And yeah, I’m a guy; and there’s just something about guys asking directions… we don’t! (Don’t ask me; I don’t understand why. Blame it on Adam, Satan, or politicians on the opposite end of your spectrum.)
But anyway, as a guy, it’s always nice to see signs that tell me I’m headed in the right direction. The same goes for being a new creature in Christ. How can we know we are on the right track? God has graciously given us some “born-again signposts.”
The apostle John had a special relationship with Christ. He wrote one of the Gospels, and then he wrote three encouraging letters to early believers who were navigating through new territory as Christians. The first letter is a “signpost,” letting them know they are on the right track.
As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life .… If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:24-25, 29)
According to John, one of the ways that you can tell if you’re born again is that you are living “right.” Does that mean “perfect?” No, it means that you have a perfect Spirit, and IF you choose to be led by the Spirit of Jesus in your spirit, the rest of your life will be catching up to that. (Fancy word for that is “sanctification.”) Yes, you still live in a fallen world, and there will be days when you make poor choices and walk in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. But if you are born again, and you are trusting Christ to live His life through you, His righteousness will characterize your life! That kind of “living right” becomes your heartbeat, and with it comes a humble assurance that, yes, you have been born again and Someone is at work in you and through you to God’s good pleasure.
Holy Spirit, today, I lay aside my impulses to think and act on my own. I want to walk in Your Spirit. Live through me in a way that confirms I am on the right track—a little outward evidence that You are in me. Amen.