Eternal security for genuine believers is something I hold to unashamedly and for studied, biblical reasons. But the truth that this doctrine encapsulates can, unfortunately, be used as a license to abuse grace, producing spoiled Christians. I came to Christ through a Christian tradition that teaches believers who are saved by grace through faith can lose their salvation if they fall away from the faith or otherwise commit grievous, unrepentant sin. My study of Scripture tells me otherwise.

On a personal level, I am still overwhelmed after 50 years of being saved that God actually wanted me in the first place, when I was an unbelieving sinner fully engaged in a sinful life. There was nothing in me so revulsive to God that He couldn’t forgive and save me. How then could He ever reject me now that I am a redeemed, converted, justified, adopted, born again, forgiven once for all, for all time, translated from darkness into light, no longer alienated from God but brought into His kingdom, and now part of His forever family–how, after all He did in saving me, could I ever do anything that would cause Him to say, “I can no longer love you,” or “I’m kicking you out”?

By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all … but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God … For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (Heb 10:10, 12, 14)

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38–39)

In my experience, the love of God is so real that there is no room for fearing loss of my salvation because:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)

When I understand that God’s grace is an outflow of His love, I know that just as nothing I do can earn my eternal salvation, nothing I do now can ever earn my eternal damnation. I didn’t deserve His love for me, and I don’t deserve His continual love. He paid the penalty for all my past, present and future sins. Praise God that, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1)

So what’s my concern? I have always felt that love, not fear, is the greatest motivation for living the Christian life, for having a passion for aspiring to Christlikeness. But we, with our belief in eternal security, must not become spiritually-spoiled brats. Let me illustrate what I mean. We all know what spoiled children are. The Urban Dictionary describes them well: “A person whose parents give them everything they want. They wait on this child hand and foot through their teen years and fill their child’s head with a distorted view of reality. They often have elaborate and expensive parties. This child will cry if something is not their way.” And spoiled children take on an obnoxious attitude of entitlement, taking for granted what they have that they did not earn.

Sometimes we Christians who believe in eternal security can take God’s grace and love for granted. Can we repeatedly sin, thinking, “Oh well, God forgives?” Can we live a self-centered lifestyle, thinking, “I am secure in my salvation?” Can we choose which parts of the Bible we will live by, thinking, “God understands my preferences?” Can we excuse our sin by hiding behind the popular statement, “I am not perfect, but I’m forgiven?” What does God think of this way of gaming the spiritual system of grace and love?

Our Lord, the Creator of the universe, is not a fool, and He is not mocked. Of course, He does want the best for us, but that may mean breaking our will through adverse circumstances or letting us reap the fruit of superficial justifications for our disobedience. This should put in us a certain amount of fear. Not a fear that undermines God’s love for us, but a fear that God’s love might mean a spiritual “spanking,” otherwise known as God’s discipline. Or it could put the fear in a person who is not a genuine believer, one who is just mouthing the words that sound like confessing Jesus Christ, talking about loving God, acting the part, and enjoying the benefits of fellowship, but has never believed, that is, by coming to the foot of the cross, genuinely confessing his sin and believing that Jesus died for him, for all of his sin, as his substitute on the cross.

As believers, let us not be spoiled brats! Remember how much He did for you and me. I know that as followers of Christ, it is often hard to keep up with Him, but make no excuses. Let’s follow Him!