How can I be sure that I know God?

Can I be a Christian and not feel God’s presence?

Should I trust my feelings?

Is it right to even want assurance of my relationship with God?

Pastors and laypeople alike wrestle with these and other difficult questions about the reality and vibrancy of our relationship with God. Tullian Tchividjian’s Do I Know God? Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship (Multnomah, 2007) offers answers to these questions in a way that is both pastorally sensitive and unflinchingly biblical. Do I Know God? is written not only for people who want to know God, but also for those of us who want to know that we know God.

In his exploration of the answers to this important question, Tullian takes us in three directions. First, he helps readers understand what an authentic relationship with God looks like. In the early chapters, he exposes the false assumptions of many who assume they know God, showing how knowing about God is different than knowing God personally.

Next, he helps us examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith by asking tough, biblical questions about the fruitfulness of our lives. Towards the end, Tullian shows us some practical ways to help us sense the assurance of our salvation.

Pastors who wish to preach on assurance of salvation would do well to consult Tullian’s book. Laypeople who struggle with the assurance of their salvation will discover the book to be very accessible. Peppered with illustrations from Tullian’s ministry and personal experience, Do I Know God? combines faithful biblical teaching with warmth that comes from the heart of a pastor. Some of the most helpful chapters deal with six ways in which people sometimes deceive themselves into thinking they know God when in reality they are far from him.

In addressing the question of certainty, Tullian emphasizes the nature of God and his promises to us. Again and again, he makes the case that salvation is all of grace. There are a couple of places where he seems to contradict himself (at one point in the book, he states that we cannot achieve salvation, but only receive it, although elsewhere he uses the terminology of achieving salvation), but the overwhelming message of the book is that salvation is all of God, which strengthens our certainty in his promises.

Do I Know God? is a well-written book that challenges, convicts and encourages us. I suspect we will be hearing more from Tullian in the days to come.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog