Saved By Grace Is A Powerful Tool For Confident Living
A growing number of studies have shown the benefit of religious faith to personal well-being.1-3 Teleios, Inc., surveyed evangelical Christians to evaluate confidence in salvation and associations with well-being and adherence to their faith.
We included 1526 participants who completed a survey advertised on the Instagram account Instapray. We examined those who identified themselves as ‘saved by grace’ (16%, n=243; SBG) compared to all others who did not confidently express their salvation (84%, n=1283; OTHERS).
The majority of respondents were:
- Female – 70%
- Had at least some college education – 53%
- Average age – 23 years
- Evangelical – 73%
The survey provided 4 powerful findings. Those who said they were saved by grace:
1. Practiced their faith – They adhered more to the practice of their faith (P>0.03; Figure 1).
Fig 1: Adherence to faith (overall rating, scale 0-6 with 6 having high participation)
| Answer Options | SBG Rating | OTHERS Rating | P-value |
| I attend church | 4.10 | 3.66 | <0.0001 |
| I study the Bible directly (either alone, with a mentor or small group) | 4.78 | 3.95 | <0.0001 |
| I pray to God | 5.76 | 5.59 | 0.029 |
| I praise God | 5.56 | 5.35 | 0.0088 |
| I teach others directly from the Bible | 3.03 | 2.18 | <0.0001 |
| I share verbally the specific Gospel message with an unbeliever | 2.10 | 1.72 | <0.0001 |
| I have Christian fellowship where biblical topics are discussed | 3.78 | 2.81 | <0.0001 |
2. Secure in salvation – They had greater knowledge of security of their salvation (P>0.001; Figure 2).
Fig 2: I can lose my salvation due to?
| SBG | OTHERS | |||
| Answer Options | % | N | % | N |
| Committing too many different varieties of sins. | 5% | 11 | 14% | 184 |
| Committing the same sin too many times. | 5% | 13 | 16% | 240 |
| Committing a really bad sin. | 3% | 8 | 11% | 171 |
| Any combination of the above 3 responses. | 12% | 28 | 17% | 260 |
| Not following scripture. | 15% | 36 | 20% | 308 |
| Not making Jesus Lord of my life | 44% | 106 | 47% | 716 |
| Nothing. Salvation cannot be lost. | 51% | 125 | 27% | 404 |
3. Better wellbeing – They enjoyed better well-being, contentment, peace, joy and purpose (P>0.013; Figure 3).
Fig 3: Well-being (overall rating, scale 0-6 with 6 being most agreement)
| Answer Options | SBG Rating |
OTHER Rating | P-value |
| I have good wellbeing | 4.79 | 4.58 | 0.013 |
| I am content with life | 4.70 | 4.28 | <0.0001 |
| I have peace | 4.73 | 4.29 | <0.0001 |
| I am joyful | 4.90 | 4.54 | 0.001 |
| I have purpose | 5.31 | 4.97 | 0.019 |
4. Less guilt – They expressed less guilt (P<0.0001; Figure 4).
Fig 4: Why do you have guilt?
| SBG | OTHER | |||
| Answer Options – I think my sins are forgiven through faith in Christ, but… | % | N | % | N |
| I am unsure if all my past sins really are forgiven. | 3% | 8 | 10% | 134 |
| I have committed sins since I believed, and I am not sure they are forgiven. | 6% | 15 | 14% | 173 |
| I am still committing sins that I really do not want to stop. | 16% | 39 | 25% | 315 |
| I have committed sins since and fear God is angry, so I am unsure He hears or answers my prayers. | 13% | 32 | 23% | 294 |
|
I am unsure if my current good works are enough to assure His continued satisfaction with me. |
11% | 26 | 20% | 257 |
| I do not have guilt. | 35% | 86 | 25% | 325 |
Evangelical
In addition, those most confident in being saved by grace were more likely to specify they were evangelical (93%) than those less able to clearly express salvation by grace (69%).
WHAT IT MEANS
Young people who identify as evangelical need to be confident in the terms of their salvation and practice their faith to achieve a higher level of well-being, contentment, peace, joy and sense of purpose as well as less guilt!
Having faith in salvation by grace through Jesus Christ improves your well-being!
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- WR MacIlvaine, LA Nelson, JA Stewart, WC Stewart. Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2013; 19: 251-255.
- WR MacIlvaine, LA Nelson, JA Stewart, WC Stewart. Association of strength of community service to personal well-being. Community Ment Health J 2014; 50: 577-582.
- WC Stewart, MP Adams, JA Stewart, LA Nelson. Review of clinical medicine and religious practice. J Relig Health 2013; 52: 91-106.
