A Good Confession

"… and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." 1 Timothy 6:12

What is a good confession? At its best, it is the outpouring of a heart touched by grace. Like the blind man whose eyes were opened by our Savior's touch, the heart cries, "Lord, I believe!" In its purest form, a good confession is the soul's reply to the call of God, a verbal reflex to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

On the one hand, a good confession of faith is far more than the moving of the lips. It is not a public statement of doctrinal agreement, however orthodox. No, it is the heart's voice, breathing out what God has breathed within. Oh, how often has the counterfeit of a false profession deceived us! How many have professed the name of Christ, yet their hearts remain far from Him? Let’s search our own hearts, lest we fall into such presumption. A good confession is not the fruit of human will but a sovereign work of God's electing love.

Ask if your soul if she suffers from the stain of sin. Does your heart tremble before God’s holy Law, condemning you? You see, a good confession of faith springs from a heart broken by the knowledge of its depravity. Has sin become your burden in any way? Has this world become a waste howling wilderness to you? (Deut. 32:10) Has salvation become your hope? Has Christ become your refuge?

On the other hand, let's not fall into the other ditch of thinking that a confession of faith requires some extraordinary sign or wonder. Confession of faith is not reserved for those who have scaled the heights of spiritual phantasms or plumbed the depths of despair's darkest pit. Rather, it is the simple, childlike trust in Christ as He is freely offered in the Gospel. The reasons might varry as to why a soul comes…but they always come to Christ. Not to a system or even to a covenant community, but to a Person.

Perhaps most importantly, remember that a good confession is not a one-and-done declaration. A Good confession, witnessed before God and His people, is a lifelong promise, renewed every morning as we take up our cross and follow Him. There is no good confession of Christ without the cross, dear one. Take it up, daily, and confess “That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with His precious blood, hath fully satisfied for all my sins.”