"Scarcely be saved"

The Bible speaks repeatedly of our need to "fear" God. For example, Psalm 2:11 (KJV) reads,

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

This idea of "fearing" God can feel uncomfortable and disconcerting, but that's exactly how it should make us feel. After all, the Bible also advises against finding ourselves at ease, because that sort of comfort tends to breed spiritual stagnation.

But perhaps more than anything, a proper sense of spiritual fear helps to humble us before God. Consider Peter's comment (1 Peter 4:18, KJV),

And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Focus especially on the part before the comma. The righteous shall "scarcely be saved"??? That should really instill in us a sense of fear, especially because none of us is righteous!

Peter's line highlights why we should fear God's power, which then should lead us toward spiritual humility. Simply put, nothing else matters besides God's salvation, which we don't deserve, and which we only scarcely possess through our shaky faith.