Seeking Path · Lesson 7 of 7 · about 4 min
From The Christian Life Catechism, Q23
I don’t know whether I am chosen. How then can I believe?
So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17 · WEB
Last time we said that salvation is a gift, which can only be received or not. So how do we receive it?
You may have heard people say that ‘God chooses people’, and wondered anxiously: what if I am not one of them? That is exactly what the book’s question here asks. The Bible’s answer is surprisingly simple: it does not tell us first to guess whether we have been chosen; it says, “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Reading these lessons, you have in fact already been ‘hearing’.
Jesus said, “For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8) Believing is not first thinking every question through; it is taking the questions you haven’t worked out and knocking at that door.
The Bible has another picture that runs the other way: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him.” (Revelation 3:20) It is not that we strain to find God; he comes and knocks at our door first. And the one who died on the cross for us did not stay dead—the Bible says we are “believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory.” (1 Peter 1:21)
Here, two paths lie before you, and both are fine. Some are ready to open the door today; others want to think some more. God does not rush you, and neither do we.
There is no right answer. What you write is stored only in this device’s browser; we cannot see it, and it is never uploaded.
Your choice here is between you and God. This page does not record which path you choose, or whether you prayed.
If you are willing, be still and speak to God in your own words; if you don’t know what to say, you can follow the prayer below, saying it in your heart.
Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me.I admit that I have gone astray, and I cannot find my way back on my own.Thank you for dying on the cross for me, and for rising from the dead.I want to open the door. Please come into my life and be my Lord.Help me to follow you from today on. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you have just prayed like this, welcome! You don’t have to walk the road ahead alone: the New Believer’s Path has six small practices to help your faith settle into everyday life. We also hope you will tell someone—a Christian friend, or write to us.
That is completely fine. Real questions deserve time. You could read C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity—he did not believe at first, and thought it through step by step; you can also come back to any of these seven lessons at any time, or read the two extra lessons: on suffering, and on other religions.
Many people only slowly think these questions through in conversation with one person. If you would like, we are glad to talk with you—no selling, no pressure.