I understand salvation is by grace through faith alone ….. but deep down I still have this ‘something’ that tells me that I am not good enough or doing things right enough, or confessing enough, or confessing to the right people, or being a good enough Christian in any way that would please God or have Him do anything for me. I understand all you say and teach in my mind and in my heart, but deep down in my gut I still feel unworthy. Why is that?
Of course you feel unworthy. We are all unworthy. That’s why we need a Savior. You have doubts about your worthiness because you’re afraid you’re not good enough for God. But nobody could ever do enough things right enough to satisfy God’s requirements.
Because of that, God has given us given a righteousness that comes from Him solely because of our belief that when Jesus died on that cross He was dying in our place, paying the penalty for our sins. Our faith is the only thing that can ever make us worthy because we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:21-24).
Therefore that “something” telling you you’re not good enough can’t be from God, because in His eyes you’ve been made perfect forever (Hebrews 10:12-14) . It’s from your enemy, who wants you to be filled with doubt about your salvation. He can’t steal you away from God (John 10:27-30) so he tries to steal the joy of your salvation.
But here are the facts. From God’s perspective when you were born again, you became a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (Ephes. 5:27), as righteous as He is (2 Cor. 5:21). You need never doubt your worthiness again.
When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Titus 3:4-7).