The word “saved” has become part of the regular vernacular of Christian churches. We use it so often that we rarely consider its full weight. We speak of being saved at a particular moment, ask others about their salvation, or issue invitations to receive it. It is a good, right, and meaningful word, especially when we reflect deeply on the implications behind it.
To be “saved” implies the existence of a danger, the reality of safety, and the presence of a hero who bridges the two. This is why clarifying the gospel message is essential; we must understand the profound implications of a grace-centered gospel emphasis to truly grasp our rescue.
Being saved in a spiritual sense differs from being rescued from a burning building or a circling shark. In physical crises, your senses can observe the peril and the protector. However, when it comes to the soul, the danger and the deliverance are matters of faith, requiring a different kind of perception.
So how can you know that you have been saved? Perhaps through answering a few other questions.
1. Where Is My Trust?
Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. There is no other way. We aren’t saved because we deserve it, because God owes us something, or because someone in our family took us to church. We are saved through faith:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).
If that’s the mechanism by which we are saved, and we want to know if we are saved, then the first basic question we should ask ourselves is, “Where is my trust?” In other words, are we currently trusting that we can be good enough for God? That we can earn his favor? That we can somehow put God in our debt? Or are we trusting in something even more ambiguous, like that we have been pretty good people and everything will be alright in the end?
If the answer to this first question is anything other than “Jesus Christ, and him alone,” then the clear truth is no. You aren’t saved. But you can be.
2. Am I Still Believing?
This second question is about what’s happening in your life now. One of the marks of those who have been saved is that they will not only make some kind of commitment or decision of faith; it’s that they will persevere in their faith:
“We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end” (Heb. 3:14).
It’s common for everyone to walk through seasons of questions, but in the end, those who are truly saved will cling to their faith; they will not depart from it.
So regardless of what once was true about your beliefs, the question shifts to being about now. Right now. What are you believing now?
3. Am I Growing?
One final question to ask yourself looks at your lifestyle. It’s a question about growth. Is your life any different now than it was when you first had an encounter with Jesus? It’s an important question to ask because those that have come into Christ are changed at the very core of who they are. It’s impossible for such a change to happen and for that person to not show evidence of it.
True enough, some seasons of growth are faster than others, and every season of life is marked by failure. But in terms of your trajectory—are you moving toward godliness? Toward love? Toward patience and all the other fruit of the Spirit of God? This, too, is one of the ways we know we are saved:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5–8).
Friends, God does not want his children to live in perpetual angst about the future. So examine yourself. Find the faith there, or if there is none, then believe on him today. And then be free.
Read more from Michael Kelley »
This article originally appeared on thinke.org and is reposted here by permission.