Tag Archives: doubt

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Butterfly Believers | Bible Gleanings | May 30-31, 2026

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Peck. Peck. Peck. The nettlesome noise awakened the woman from a sound sleep. A peckish sparrow perched outside her window trying to eat breakfast—a butterfly frantically fluttering against the inside of the glass. There was a misunderstanding—the butterfly believed it was history, and the hungry bird was frustrated because it couldn’t reach its meal due to the invisible barrier between them. The butterfly had no reason to have the butterflies—it was as safe as if it had been thousands of miles away. 

Crippled with panic, yet completely protected. How frequently do we as believers suffer from paralyzing dread regarding our souls when we have no reason to? Lacking assurance, we often live as though our salvation hangs by a thread, as if heaven’s door is barely open and poised to slam shut in our faces. We fear losing our salvation, out-sinning the grace of God, disappointing our Savior one too many times, or being snatched away by the world or the devil. But according to the Scripture, there is something infinitely greater than a glass pane standing between us and falling away from the faith: the nail-scarred hands of Christ Jesus.

Jesus graciously assured that there is no reason for His sheep to live in trepidation: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Believer, your salvation does not depend on your grip of Christ, but upon His grip of you—and He will never let you go (cf. Heb. 13:5). He likewise promised, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. . . And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:37, 39). And your name is inscribed in the Book of Life with immortal ink—even graven in the palms of His hands (Rev. 3:5; Isa. 49:16), and it cannot be erased by your transgressions nor made more permanent by your obedience. 

Is this not why Paul exclaimed, “I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39, KJV)? God’s grace-kept, eternally-secure, and never-lost children have no reason to live like anxious butterflies. Rather, there are a thousand reasons to mount up with wings as eagles and soar in the joy of blessed assurance. For all who are in Christ, the Lord’s promise remains unchanged: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isa. 41:10).

Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, their much-prayed for son, Oliver, and their three dogs. Brandon and Dakota previously served as foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and his Bible Gleanings columns are featured in over sixteen publications throughout Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, and Indiana. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and an editor at Reforming the Heart.

Bible Questions, Practical Helps

QUESTION: Is it a sin to doubt your salvation?

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A few years ago, a young man in our youth ministry asked me a stunning question. It was stunning because it just wasn’t a question I had prepared for. It wasn’t controversial, hotly debated, or impossible to answer – it was just different. I believe it was after our Wednesday night Bible study, and we were talking about spiritual matters when he asked me, “Is it a sin to doubt your salvation?”

He struggled with the assurance of his salvation at the time, and so he asked me if it was a sin to doubt your salvation or to have no assurance of salvation. You may have wondered about this as well. So, is it a sin to doubt your salvation, or to struggle with assurance? 

The answer: It depends. It really depends on what brought about the doubt in the first place. What places doubt into the category of being a sin is dependent on what is causing the doubt itself. In other words, to determine the sinfulness of doubt, you need to find out where the doubt is coming from. The Scripture does command and imply that we should seek out assurance of our own salvation, and to rest in that assurance (John 3:36; 5:24; 8:31-32; 10:28; Hebrews 6:4-6; 1 John 5:11-13). If we are not discovering and believing those truths, we are being blatantly ignorant of the word of God. So in that sense, it would be sinful to doubt salvation which you already have because you are failing to seek out those Scriptures which concern assurance, and then gain assurance by reading and believing them.

However, if your doubt arises from a noticeable contradiction in your Christian life—then that is a good doubt to have! That is, if you see no evidence of salvation in your life whatsoever, then that’s a logical and good doubt to have. If you are doubting whether or not you are truly saved because you see no evidence from your life of salvation, then truly your doubt is good! If there is apparently no life change, then you have great reason to doubt your salvation. Why would you believe you are healthy when your body demonstrates that you are sick? And why would you believe you are saved when your life demonstrates that you are not?

Consider what the apostle Peter says in his second letter. In the first chapter, he lists off a range of godly qualities that should be present in our lives, if we are true believers. He names things such as “self-control, godliness, brotherly affection, love,” and many others (vv. 5-7). And listen to this—Peter says that the reason we should see these godly qualities in our lives is “to make your calling and election [salvation] sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall” (v. 10, KJV). In light of this, I then said to the inquiring young man, “The life you’re living should be enough evidence to confirm your salvation. If you see no transformation, you never had salvation.”

Keep it in mind that sometimes true believers do backslide – true believers fall into a backslidden state time and time again, but never totally nor finally. For those that believe, they will persevere until the end, never losing their salvation (John 6:37-47; 10:27-30; Rom. 8:28-39; Eph. 1:13-14; Phil. 1:6). And just as true is the fact that believers lapse in and out of certain sins from time to time, which may cause a true believer to have doubt or lack assurance. Thankfully, God will give us grace to move forward on His path as we seek His strength and power to do just that. But if you don’t see any transformation in your life, if you see no evidence that you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), then you can be sure you have no salvation.

Assuredly, it is no such sin to doubt a salvation which you do not have – perhaps it is the Holy Spirit convicting you of what is your own reality. It is a good thing to doubt a salvation if you have no reason to believe you have it! But it is certainly sinful to doubt a salvation which you do have. If you are a true believer, your life will demonstrate that. If you are doubting, endeavor to discover the reason for your doubt. Is it personal sin causing doubt? Is it lack of time with the Lord which is causing doubt? Is it ignorance of Scripture’s teaching on assurance?