Confession

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering . . ." (Hebrews 10:23).

When this verse speaks of our "confession," it is referring to what comes out of our mouths in public. Nor do we have here a mild suggestion regarding the contents of our conversations; it is a stern exhortation. There is no basis in the verse for any notion that it matters little what we say over coffee with friends, so long as we believe the right things in our hearts. No, the "confession" of our hope without wavering is just as important in our salvation as the belief in the heart. This is also evident in Romans 10:9:

"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."

If we want to de-couple these and put the major emphasis on heart faith, making our words a secondary or optional matter, we have departed from the Scripture's emphasis; we must admit that ours is innovative theology.

The reason I am constrained to mention this is because I myself was for so many years deluded. I was under the demonic impression that I could talk fairly faithlessly and sloppily in my daily utterances, and still consider myself in good standing spiritually, merely because I was a card-carrying Christian. By this illicit and entirely fanciful bifurcation of Christ's teaching, I allowed myself a running stream of low-level grumblings, whinings, and doubt-filled speech.

Satan would like nothing better than to make an artificial rift at this juncture of faith and speech, and to downplay the importance of confession. He knows full well that so-called heart belief that never is expressed verbally is either a sham or soon will become one.

Even common sense tells us how inane is the idea that we can privately love God and publicly spew doubt about him. I liken it to a woman who sweet talks her husband in the bedroom and then talks trash about him to her friends at Starbucks. Theirs is not much of a relationship.

We are married to Jesus (Romans 7:4). As his bride we must honor him in even our most casual speech with friends. And since this Husband of ours is also the all-powerful God, our speech and confession must be always abounding with high expectations of Him. "Hey Jenny, you got problems with your kids? Let's pray, because I just know that God is up to handling that!"

There is something about the tongue that is key. We have not even scratched the surface, nor are we aware of the millionth part of its consequences. The confession of our hope is as crucial as our heart's disposition. For some of us, to implement this insight is bound to feel strange at first. It will be an entirely new way of using our mouths from sunup to sundown.

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