What does humility look like?
When it comes to salvation, many think it
means being uncertain of heaven. To be
confident would seem to them like arrogance; better to play it safe and doubt
that you are worthy, lest your arrogance disqualify you, they reason.
But when I question people a little more closely about these
doubts, the overwhelming majority have a quiet confidence that they are heaven
bound anyway, like Mike, a man who has fallen away from his religious roots but
quietly confident of salvation nonetheless.
He is one of a large percentage of people who avoid talking about
salvation because to do so would be arrogant, but on the inside it is really
because they really think they’ve got it secured.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” they figure.
That’s not real humility.
It’s a false humility based on a self-righteous, outward show of doubt.
Self-righteousness is the belief that one has a right
relationship with God based on something he has done or earned. It’s impossible to show humility when you
think heaven is something you deserve. You just end up with an empty, false
humility that makes you miss out on the real basis for salvation.
I told Mike that it is possible to have confidence you are
saved without being arrogant about it.
This is only possible if you believe it is based not on what you have
done, but what someone else has done for you.
It was Jesus who showed true humility on our behalf. “Who, being in very nature God, did not
consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the
very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he
humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2)
Our confidence comes not from our own humility, but the humility
of Christ at the cross.
Is it okay to be honest about our doubts? Yes, Christians doubt their salvation all the
time. But let’s not stay there. Philippians 2 continues on to say we should “continue
to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” This doesn’t tell us to work FOR salvation,
but we work it out as we struggle to grasp the enormity of what Christ achieved
at the cross on our behalf.
The more we
spend time in and living out God’s word, the more we focus on Christ and grow
in both humility and confidence for salvation.
PS – Join my conversation with Mike HERE
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