Confess

Confess

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.

Romans 10:9

People assume that every Amish person has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s like believing that every person in the Bible Belt is a believer and a follower of Christ. But for the Amish, like in any other community or church, showing up, participating, and having your name on the membership roll don’t get you God’s saving grace. In fact, sometimes it might be hard to realize you’re missing a personal relationship with God when everything in your life is set up for you to serve God and know about Him: “Although the Amish profess salvation by grace, many of their congregations practice salvation by works. They believe God decides their eternal destiny by weighing their lifelong obedience to the rules of the church against their disobedience.”

But saving faith is more than just “knowing.” It’s understanding that we are lost and in need of a Savior. It’s confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. We can strive our hardest to live good lives, but nothing changes until we take care of our sin problem. We may trifle with our sins or excuse them, but God hates sin.

How seriously do you take God’s holiness and His hatred of sin? Do you grieve over the things that grieve God’s heart? We can discuss the benefits of living simpler lives. We can speak about having peace in our day-to-day routines, but true peace comes when all our sins are taken away and they are no longer counted against us.

1 Corinthians 15:3 says, “I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.” Do your rest, peace, and security come from Christ? Salvation comes by grace alone, in faith alone, by Christ alone. Trust in that today.

Dear heavenly Father, I thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son that leads to my salvation. I’m thankful that the only act that is necessary is for me to confess with my lips and believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord.