By Michael Kelley

The word “saved” has become part of the regular vernacular of Christian churches. We have used it so often that we don’t even think about it any more. We say that “we got saved” at this particular moment or that particular event. We ask others if they’ve been saved. We issue the invitation of whether someone wants to be saved.

It’s a good word. It’s the right word. And it’s a meaningful word if you think a little more deeply about the implications behind it. If we have been “saved,” then it implies there is some kind of danger, and there is. It also implies that we are now safe from that danger, and we are. And it implies that there was some hero that brought us from danger to safety. And there is one of those, too.

But being saved in this sense is obviously different than being saved from a burning building or a circling shark. In those situations, you can observe, with your senses, the danger, the hero, and the state of relative safety you enter into. But with your soul? That’s different, as these are matters of faith.

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.

Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.