Where does your faith take you? Does it move you from one place to another? Or does it effect you in some other way? Does believing lead you to do certain things? It should, and in Romans Paul offers one small example. “For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved,” he writes (Romans 10:10).
For Paul, that which the heart believes can and should lead to confession, what we usually call an affirmation or declaration of faith. In Presbyterian worship you will often find the Apostles’ Creed or some other statement of faith included in the service. And it is entirely appropriate for this statement to come after the sermon, as a response to the word. God speaks to us, we hear and then, because we believe and seek to believe more fully, we publicly profess that faith, going “on the record” as it were. It is probably the least we could do, to stand with other Christians and say aloud, “I believe…,” but it is significant nonetheless because in doing so we identify ourselves as God’s people.
To believe in the heart is a sign of God’s activity in our lives. To profess with our mouth is to allow ourselves to be moved by what God is doing and to show others where we stand. The urge to confess our faith, then, is another sign of God’s presence, one for which we may rejoice.
Prayer: Lord, may our hearts be filled with love for you and may our voices be lifted in praise. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment