We do not need to live under the fear of wondering if we are really saved. Besides His assurance of our forgiveness in the Bible, God has given us two indicators of our spiritual state: spiritual fruit and having the Holy Spirit work in our life.

WHY IS UNDERSTANDING THIS TRUTH IMPORTANT?

Because a "saved" stamp doesn't appear on our forehead, or a letter of acceptance from God doesn't appear in our mailbox when we are saved, it is common to wonder whether or not we actually are. Questions about where we really stand before God can cause fears and doubts that you aren’t really saved and can distance from God because you’re unsure of how He sees you.

Fears and doubts about whether we are really saved will cripple our walk and relationship with God and may even cause us to "give up".

THE TRUTH: WE CAN BE CONFIDENT OF WHERE WE STAND BEFORE GOD

At some point in your Christian walk, you may begin to wonder if you are really saved. The truth in God’s Word shows us we don’t need to experience fear and doubt over your salvation. Romans 10.9 says, “If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” If these things are true of us, we do not need to wonder about how we stand before God.

In addition to this verse and others like it, the Bible gives us two main ways that we can be sure that we are saved:

• bearing “spiritual fruit” (Matthew 12.33 – Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.)
• seeing the Holy Spirit work in our life (John 7.38-39 – "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.).

SPIRITUAL FRUIT

The first way we can be confident of where we stand before God is through our "spiritual fruit".

Our lifestyle reveals our spiritual condition. If we are bearing spiritual fruit, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control” (Galatians 5.22-23); if God has made changes in our life and is continuing to work, we can be certain of our salvation.

Spiritual fruit is a natural result of our spiritual condition. We don’t have to try to bear fruit, because if we are close to God, He will be working in us and spiritual fruit will be evident in our lives. Another part of the evidence of salvation in our lives is our response to God’s Word. Jesus says in John 15.14, “You are my friends if you do what I command.” This means that if we are obeying God’s Word and applying it to our life, we can be assured that God sees us as a friend.

Our good works do not bring about our salvation, but they are evidence of it. If we cannot see fruit in our life, it MAY be indicative of a lack of sincere faith. If you feel this might be the case, talk to a spiritual friend or leader. Sometimes we are tricked into thinking we don’t have fruit so we’ll doubt our faith, when in fact, there is fruit in our life. A mature Christian friend can help us see the fruit we feel might be missing. Or, if we really aren’t exhibiting fruit, they can help direct us to do what needs to be done.

It is important to understand that the abundance of our spiritual fruit is usually in correlation to our spiritual maturity. A new Christian cannot compare their "fruit" with the "fruit" of someone who has been a Christian for 50 years...if they do, they might conclude that they don't have spiritual fruit. The important thing is that God is making changes in your life -- it NOT important whether that change is big or small, noticable or unnoticeable to others.

NEXT: Our Confidence: Holy Spirit

How do I become a Christian?

What does it mean to "bear spiritual fruit"?