“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven."
Have you ever wondered what criteria God uses to decide if we’re one of those who gets to live forever? Today’s message is pretty clear. “Whoever acknowledges me before others.”
“Too simplistic!” you say…? Don’t blame me. I didn’t say it.
In case we didn’t hear it right, the Apostle Paul reiterates. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9, 10). The only clarity Paul adds to the words of Jesus is that we need to believe the words we utter. We can proclaim the message of Christ for a lifetime. We may even be instrumental in bringing others to salvation. But…if we don’t believe it ourselves…it is of no avail.
Weird…
And…it brings sense to James’ contention that “faith without works is dead”. I draw the conclusion that faith and works are inseparable. While it’s possible to profess something we don’t believe…it’s probably not possible to truly believe something that we are unwilling to profess.
Declaring the Gospel of Christ is our own evidence that we believe. Not for others, but for ourselves. Nobody else knows what’s in our hearts. But we…in moments of human doubt wonder…can look at the testimony of our works and say “there it is!”
Conversely…if we think we believe it, but have never proclaimed it…we need to rethink the genuineness of our convictions.
Live boldly out there today…
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