Declaring or Denying Jesus

Day 15: Matthew 10:24-42, 11:1-6

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 10:32-33 ESV

We (and our culture at large) put so much stock in what others think of us. Our reputation seems to be the thing we hold onto the tightest.

Would you be willing to put your reputation at stake by letting someone know that you follow Jesus?

Our reading today is pretty straightforward. Claiming Jesus as Lord and Savior is going to cost us. The book of Revelation fleshes this out even further. We will not benefit, in the end, financially or in notoriety (see Revelation 13:17).

Jesus will bring peace in us, but He will bring a sword to everything that is not bringing honor and glory to His name.

Don't let people intimidate or discourage you. As your days on earth increase, your faith will not fail. You may lose business, friends, family, or fame, but you will gain what matters most. Go ahead, lose this life, and find an eternal one by confessing Jesus Christ as Lord (see Romans 10:9-10).

"A man’s standing before God is thus explicitly made to depend on his relationship to Jesus, and Jesus himself stands in the role of arbiter of a man’s ultimate destiny." - France, R. T. (1985). Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 1, p. 191)