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If Peter walked away from Christ and his friends (Matthew 26:56), THEN tried to follow Jesus at a distance AND also placed himself in a very unhealthy environment (Matthew 26:58) which led to him eventually denying Christ (Matthew 26:69-75) then the SAME THING will happen to us if we follow in those steps.
~ Perry Noble
Fear can have complete power over us if we are not careful! As Jesus explains to the twelve disciples at the official ceremony to authorize them to execute Jesus’ mission, it is the mission of the disciple of Jesus to confess Him to every person they meet, regardless of the power, persecution or pain they could inflict.
You know the scenario: You are put on the spot and your peers begin laughing about the “religious crazies” in the world. Then they ask you what you think. For a splitting moment before you answer you know you have a choice: You can gain friends by denying Jesus or you can lose friends by confessing Him. At least that’s the only two choices the devil wants you to think about. As we discover from the words of Jesus today,
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32–33, NKJV)
We imitate Jesus when …
- We confess our love relationship with Him in front of anyone and everyone!
Life comes by confessing our love relationship with King Jesus! In that moment when you are put on the spot, will you react to the negativity and seek to keep your friends or will you respond with the passion of a life that lives in the unfathomable compassion of the Christ?
It is these moments that WHAT you answer and HOW you respond changes everything. From those who are skeptics or hostile to the Lord Jesus, you will most likely be persecuted. But from those who are genuinely friends, they will begin to put the pieces of your words of confession and your grace-filled life towards them together. In those moments, witness is born!
Jesus calls you to confess Him. The people you encounter need Him. It’s a match made in Heaven!
© 2012 Dr. Matthew Lee Smith. All rights reserved. Not for resale.
