How Do I Know If I Am Really Saved?

Written By Costi Hinn

This is one of the most common questions a pastor gets asked: How do I know if I am really saved?

Some believe that you just need to say, “I believe!” Others might insist that you hand over a resume of faith plus some good works — including regular church attendance and a giving record to boot.

With the vast majority of opinions being hit or miss, we are compelled to ask, What does the Bible have to say? For those seeking assurance of salvation, that’s all that matters.

Is it a one-time decision or a lifestyle?

The first question needing serious consideration: Is being a true Christian — as in, a “saved individual” — a one-time decision or an ongoing lifestyle? Take, for example, three individuals who make “decisions” to follow Jesus Christ. Now, fast forward ten years and the first of those individuals live in rampant sin but claims, “I am a Christian. I believe. I walked the aisle, prayed the sinner’s prayer, accepted the free gift of grace from God, and punched my ticket to heaven.” Meanwhile, the second individual made a similar decision to follow Jesus, but eventually walked away from their faith and decided not to believe. Finally, the third individual was completely different. Sin was present in their life at times, but not as a rampant lifestyle. They humbly acknowledge shortcomings but could confidently point to the fruit of the Spirit as being present in them (Galatians 5:22-23). Their life is not marked by perfection, but a definite progression in holiness, righteous living, devotion to Jesus, and love for others.

All three made decisions. All three claim to be Christians. Which one is?

How Can I Know That I'm Saved?

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.

Three Words To Help You Understand The Christian Life

A message from Billy Graham

Some people doubt that they are actually Christians. They want to be, but feel like they are missing the joy of the Christian faith. The dreadful uncertainty that haunts many people grows out of misunderstanding what the Christian experience is. Some people don’t seem to know the nature of Christian conversion, while others have been misinformed concerning conversion and seek an experience that is not Biblical. Many confuse faith with feeling.

Faith always implies an object—that is, when we believe, we must believe something. That something I call the “fact.” Now let me give you three Words that will help you understand the Christian life: fact, faith, and feeling. They come in this order, and the order is essential. In this order, you will have the joy and confidence of one who can say, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Timothy 1:12, NIV).

First, you are saved through a personal faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as defined in the Scriptures. The Gospel refers to the news of Christ’s death and resurrection in order to pay the penalty for our sins and provide a way to eternal life. 

The Growing Divide

Americans increasingly see the country as more divided than at any time since the Civil War. Pew Research Center polling reveals a sharp rise in partisan hostility: in 2022, 72% of Republicans and 63% of Democrats viewed the opposing party as more immoral than other Americans—up dramatically from 47% and 35% in 2016.

Johanna Dunaway, research director at the University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship and professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, says her interpretations of the research on this issue “is that media effects exist, but they don’t work the way people often assume—with media doing all the persuading. Media in all forms respond to audience preferences and behaviors as much as the other way around. Unfortunately, the patterns of information we end up being exposed to still exacerbate divisions.”

She says the blame is tied to the economic model of today’s media landscape. “Underlying media emphasis on the extreme and outrageous is that most digital media relies on attention metrics like clicks and because competition for the public’s attention is so intense. Media outlets face strong economic incentives to publish and promote the most attention-grabbing content,” she says.

Turning our attention back to the 2022 Pew Research study, it is clear that there has been a rise in the shares in both parties who describe their co-partisans in positive terms – saying they are more moral, open-minded and honest than other Americans.