Question: I accepted Christ as my savior. I am a believer. But sometimes I wonder whether I am really saved. So how do I know for sure I am saved and have eternal life? Could you provide some help?

Yes, I do agree sometimes we all may wonder whether we are really saved because of our feelings. This could be because of certain failures in our lives. We know that we did not live according to God’s expectations and that cause us to have doubt. May be we gave ourselves to certain temptations. Alternatively, maybe we made a decision not to behave in certain ways or would not do certain things. Then we discover we did exactly that we did not want to do. Then our subjective feelings /experience kicks in doubting our salvation God gave us. In addition, when a believer in Christ fails in certain areas, devil and his agents are also quick in causing us to doubt our salvation and eternal life in the Lord.

First of all, understand we can never be perfect while live on this earth. We have a sinful body inherited from the first parents and the sinful nature inherited is still in us because our body is not glorified as of yet. Because we are born again and now have God’s Holy Spirit is living in us, of course, we would sin less and less as we grow spiritually. Eventually we would start hating sin and live for Him. But still sinless state is not possible here on this earth. (1 John 1:8-10). A believer has both flesh and Holy Spirit in him while the non believer in Christ has only one mechanism which is the flesh. Spiritual growth means we become less and less flesh oriented and more and more Holy Spirit oriented in our choices and decisions. However, we should not base the assurance of our salvation and eternal life in our feelings or experiences.

We should find the truth about our salvation not in our subjective feelings or experiences but on the objective eternal truth of the Bible – the Word of God. Bible says in Titus 1:2 that God, who does not lie, promised the our eternal life. It also says when did He promise this- He “promised before the world began”. Verse 1 says to whom this promise of confidence is given. It says to those God has chosen He gave the truth of this confidence. Therefore, if you are chosen by God before the world began or the beginning of time, then you would come to Christ and accept Him as your savior and Lord in time,  and you have the promise of God, who never lie, that you have salvation and eternal life.

Bible says what God testified in 1 John 5:11-13. Do we know what ‘testified’ means? Per dictionary, it means “give evidence as a witness in a law court.” So God gave evidence as a witness in a law court. What did He testify? It says, “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.” God testified in the court of Law that God gives eternal life and this life is in His Son, Jesus Christ. Whoever has Jesus Christ, His son has eternal life. A person who does not have His Son, Jesus Christ, does not have eternal life. Now what is having son in our life means? John 1:12 answers this question. It says “all who believed Jesus and accepted Him, God gave the right to become the children of God.” Now if you believed Jesus and accepted Him, you have the Son (Christ), you are the child of God and you are saved and possess eternal life.

Beloved, God promised and He testified so that you will not doubt your salvation and eternal life, if you believed and accepted Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord. Bible also says how salvation happens. Romans 10:9 says, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Jesus died for all of our sins and thereby paid for the punishment of our sins and the He rose again from the dead defeating sin, death and devil. This is the good news called Gospel. If you believe Jesus as Lord and believe He died and rose again for you, you are declared saved and granted eternal life by God in heaven.

God promised it, testified it, and you must not doubt.

One more Bible verse I will show you. Jesus himself said this, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-29). It is Jesus who give you eternal life. You see they shall never no never perish. No one can take you out of His hand. You are held by the strong hand of Jesus Christ. More than that one more assurance. Jesus said, it is His Father, who gives them to Jesus. He is greater than all. No one can take them out of the Fathers hand.

What else you need for assurance of salvation and eternal life? If you accepted Christ as your savior and Lord and believed He died for your sake and asked forgiveness of your sins to Him, then you are saved for ever. Do not let your subjective feelings/experiences doubt your salvation and eternal life. Let the objective Word of God- the Bible- gives the assurance.

One of our problem is this-we prone to think that God loves us less, don’t we? This happens again because of our failures or inconsistencies in life, which we are aware off and of course hate, don’t we? However, the truth is this- nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing means nothing. In addition, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Love of Jesus Christ and love of God is guaranteed on a believer no matter what happens (Romans 8:35-39) because you are purchased by the precious blood of Christ (Colossians 3:13, 1 Peter 1:19, 1 Corinthians 6:20) and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God for eternal life and heavenly inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14). You and I are His own. Our love toward God may diminish due to circumstances and failures. But His love remains steadfast and unchanging and it will never diminish or taken out from a person who trusted in Jesus Christ. Bible says in Romans 8:1 that “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Be confident, my friend,  and have the full assurance of your salvation and eternal life and do not doubt because you are a believer who called upon the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation. You are saved forever and you have eternal life. I hope this answer helps you.