Author’s Note: This is an adapted excerpt from Known and Loved: Experiencing the Affection of God in Psalm 139 (Moody, 2025) by Glenna Marshall. Used with permission.

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I’ve been a pastor’s wife for twenty-two years, and that time in ministry has given me the ability to read people well. It’s easy to identify the hard workers, the intentional encouragers, and the (hopefully) unintentional complainers. It takes all kinds of people to make up the church, but one of the easiest to spot is the Christian with a scrupulous conscience. These are the church members who think every call to repentance is about them personally. They live in regular fear of the Lord’s discipline. They welcome it, even, because the only way they can categorize their relationship with the Lord is “guilt-ridden.” They struggle to believe in God’s faithful love and affection because they live in constant fear of Scripture’s sobering warning passages. Their fear of falling away outweighs their confidence in God’s promise to keep them.

Maybe that’s you. You live with your sin ever before you (Ps. 51:3) but don’t believe God willingly upholds you (Ps. 51:12). You don’t doubt God’s general love, but you are so certain you qualify as a potential apostate that you live your whole Christian life with regular, crushing condemnation. You’re sure that if you let in even a glimmer of God’s approval, you’ll probably give yourself license to sin and eventually fall away. To anyone who pushes back against your bleak view of God’s love, you are armed with a stack of warnings against apostasy. Fear is your shield, and doubt is your sword. But your weapons will crumble if you realize you’re giving yourself too much credit for your faithfulness to ­ Jesus. You’re not solely responsible for keeping on the path of righteousness. The Lord is the One who keeps you on the way everlasting.

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“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Ps. 23:6)

Excerpt taken from Formed for Fellowship by Kyle Worley, ©2025. Used by permission of B&H Publishing.

“The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” (Ps. 34:22)

“Who is to condemn? Christ ­ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Rom. 8:34)

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:6)

“Whoever confesses that ­ Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:15–16)

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[1] On this subject, I am indebted to Collin Hansen for his helpful article “Warning Passages Ahead” at The Gospel Coalition, January 9, 2012, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/warning-passages-ahead/.

[2] See Hebrews 11, which comes with great hope after the warning passages. There were many greatly flawed people in this list who finished in faithfulness. We should be encouraged by this list!

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