Matthew 10:32-33
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”
I will never forget the night of June 23rd, 2007. It was a Saturday and the second night of the Harvest Crusade featuring Pastor Greg Laurie, a large evangelistic outreach in Raleigh, NC. There were nearly 15,000 people in the arena but the one I was focused on was my then 7-year old son, Clay. He was tapping me on the arm as Pastor Greg was nearing the end of his message and getting ready to invite people to come down to make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
“Shhh. You need to be quiet, buddy,” I whispered. A few minutes went by and then another tap on my arm. “Clay…you need to be quiet, pal. God is doing some serious business tonight.” A few more minutes and one more tap. “Son…what’s the problem, buddy?” I complained. “I want to go down, Dad” Clay said in a quiet voice. I was shocked.
I’d say I’ve been a decent Christian dad and I used to preach the Gospel to our kids regularly. Clay had already prayed to receive Jesus so I didn’t understand why he seemingly wanted to do it again.
“Why do you want to do that, pal?” I asked.
“I want to do this in front of everybody” he replied in a serious tone.
You see, Greg had just preached on Matthew 10:32-33 and my 7-year old son had picked up on it. He knew he had made a private profession of faith…but never a public one. What an incredible blessing it was to walk down with him and then hold him in my arms as the band Leeland played, “Tears of the Saints”…and boy, did I have some of those.
You may attend church every week, and that’s great. You may go to some wonderful Bible studies or small groups, and that’s important, too. But if your faith never “goes public,” according to the words of Jesus, you are in some potentially hot water.
Do people outside of your “holy huddle” know you love Jesus? Do your neighbors or co-workers? Do the parent’s on your child’s sports team or club? Do the folks at your bank or grocery store know?
If they don’t, I’m not questioning your salvation, but I am questioning your commitment. Your commitment to the lost people that surround you daily…and your commitment to the one who spoke the words of Matthew 10:32-33.
