7 Ways to Confess Christ
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:8-9
I just read a book[i] about confession. I was expecting it to be about the need to confess our sins –and it was. It was also about the kind of confession Paul is talking about in Romans 10 (verses above). This is a confession of faith that will come from the believer’s mouth when she believes in her heart that Jesus is Lord.
In the book, the author uses the illustration of tithing. When Christians so trust God with their finances that they are willing to tithe on what the Lord gives them, they are confessing that Jesus is Lord over their finances. It is a confession of faith before the Lord.
This understanding led me to rethink how I live in other areas of my life and how we Christians should be confessing our faith. Most Christians believe that God’s Word is our guide for how to live with God’s blessings. Do our actions match our stated beliefs? Is God the Lord of our marriages? Are we respecting our husbands? Ephesians 5:33 Do we honor our own, as well as all other marriages? (Hebrews 13:4)
Do we allow the Lord to rule over our child-rearing practices? Are we discipling our children according to God’s Word? (Proverbs 12:1, 13:24, 19;18, 22:15) Are we teaching them to love and serve the Lord and His law? (Deuteronomy 6)
Is the Lord Jesus confessed as the Lord over your local congregation? Does the preaching and teaching honor Him and name Christ as the Head of the church? (Ephesians 5:23, 1 Timothy 3 and 5, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5)
Is Christ Lord over the work we do? Whether our work is in the home or in the office or factory, do we glorify Christ in our work? (1 Corinthians 10:31, Philippians 2:14, 4:13, 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 2 Thessalonians 3:10)
Is Jesus Lord of our politics? Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” Do we consider godly principles when we vote?
Last, is Jesus Lord over our minds? Do we strive to think in a way that confesses our faith in the Lord to the Lord as the only One who truly knows our thoughts? Have we, or will we, train ourselves to take every thought captive to obey Christ? (2 Corinthians 10:5, Philippians 4:8, Matthew 22:37)
Confessing our faith with our mouths is what God calls us to do to be saved. Will you and I then confess our faith in Him by the way we live?
[i] The Cure of Souls, Recovering the Biblical Doctrine of Confession, R.J. Rushdoony. Download here for free: . http://chalcedon.edu/research/books/the-cure-of-souls-recovering-the-biblical-doctrine-of-confession-2/