Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Matthew 10:32-33 -- On Confessing or Denying Christ

"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 10:32-33


This is a little scary, in different ways.  First, the confess part is scary because wow... how often do we think God and leave it unsaid?  This happens for me a lot at work, because I am answering questions most of the day, and some of them are hard.  The answer is not always something that is straightforward and amenable to research.  Sometimes the answer is pray.  And I start typing something, trying to make sure the answer is inoffensive, and I'm often unsure about how far to go, or what to say that will help and not drive people away. :)  And how often do we do that with friends or even family, if we think (or know) that they won't be open to the spiritual answer?  One thing that I try sometimes is saying, well, for me the answer is prayer, but there is probably something equivalent that you do that helps you in a similar way... which sometimes opens up a good conversation, and sometimes falls flat.  And the truth is, we've all probably had times where someone telling us the obvious answer angers us, and it makes sense because some part of us *knows* the answer... we just aren't ready to hear it until we calm down and get ourselves into a better place.
The deny part seems scary on a whole different level.  It's one thing to leave God out.  Definitely not good, but something that we can work on incorporating into our lives and our conversations and our selves over time.  But the denial of God... that seems more serious, more permanent--like we are building a wall between us, and we either really don't believe, or we're so hurt or angry that we're rejecting the obvious proofs around us.  Unfortunately, way more often the latter.
I know that when I stand before God, I would prefer not be be denied.  And I can only hope to be worthy of the introduction of a friend.  ... And if we all feel that way, let's make sure that we are doing that same favor for God in our lives.  Introducing him to others as a friend, and never talking bad about him or denying our friendship.  If we make that relationship the primary focus of our lives, and talk about God like we talk about our favorite people... I think that not only will our lives be filled with great goodness and positive conversation, but we'll learn to know God better, and be closer to him and learning from him more and more as we take the time to build that relationship.  Today, let's not hide our friendship or keep it a secret.  When it comes up naturally, let's be true to our best friend, God, and never be ashamed of making him the center of our lives.

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