Matthew 10:32-33
The key word in this passage is public. Jesus is comparing my response to him in public to his response to me before the Father. The comparison is very clear: if I publicly acknowledge him, he will acknowledge me before the Father; if I publicly disown him, he will disown me before the Father.
This doesn't sound very grace-filled. It sounds a little bit selfish, actually, and petulant. If I ever said anything with this kind of tone to one of my friends I would have likely been punished by my parents. It sounds a bit contradictory to even Jesus' statements about how we are supposed to treat each other. It sounds a bit like the old tradition of "an eye for an eye."
However it does fit very well with Jesus' statements on forgiveness; unless you forgive your brother or sister, your heavenly Father will not forgive you. Jesus often makes the point that how we live our lives here on earth determines our treatment in eternity: whatever you did for the least of these, for example.
The question I clearly need to ask myself this morning is, am I publicly acknowledging my Lord?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
This is a tough thing to think about. Just like the forgiveness thing, because we all mess up. We don't always forgive like we should, and we don't always proclaim Christ publicly like we should. So what does this mean than for us and our relationship with Christ? Just wondering what your thoughts are on this.
What does it mean to publicly acknowledge Jesus? I think it is both word and action. I can't acknowledge him with my lips and then deny him by my life and expect him to be pleased. On the flip side, I can't just acknowledge him with my life and never speak of him with my voice and expect him to be pleased. It's both/and.
I don't think it's a one time chance thing (as in, if you mess up once and don't publicly acknowledge Christ one time, then it's game over). Peter would give me hope that this is not the case. I think it's probably more about how we live our lives generally.
One thing I do know, though, is that how we live our lives in the present affects eternity. I don't completely understand the extend of that but Jesus' teaching is pretty clear. At the same time, the Bible's teaching on grace is equally clear.
Post a Comment