How Do I Respond to God?
Respond by Confessing Jesus
By Larry Fayer
As we have talked in other articles about responding to God, we have said that you must believe and change your mind (repent) to start getting it in line with God’s will. Your faith will also lead you to be willing to step up and tell the world that you believe. The Bible calls this confession.
The importance of confession was stated in Jesus’ statement in Luke 12:8-9 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”
In 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul urged Timothy to, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
You may ask, What is the “Good Confession” that we are to make? Let me give you five examples of the good confession being made:
1. Acts 8:37 KJV: "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’"
2. Matthew 14:33: "And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'”
3. Matthew 16:16: Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'”
4. John 20:28: "Thomas answered him, 'My Lord and my God!'”
5. John 11:27: "She [MARTHA] said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.'"
The confession that the Ethiopian Eunuch, those in the boat, Peter, Thomas and Martha all made was a confession of belief in who Jesus is. That is the confession that the Bible requires. Unfortunately, many churches have established a confession based on belief in their form of church doctrine. That is not the confession of the Bible! Beware if you are asked to make a confession beyond this. At that point, they have left the Bible!
Once we have made the good confession, the scriptures exhort us to hang onto (“hold fast’) that confession every day of our lives. The writer of the Hebrew letter makes the point: "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." (Hebrews 4:14) and "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)
The beginning of your response to God and the salvation he offers through Jesus Christ is to listen to his word, believe it, repent and confess your belief. These are simple, yet profound actions. Tomorrow’s article will talk about next steps.