It’s remarkable that in recent years we’ve heard highly successful men, business owners, elite athletes, millionaires who seemingly have it all, publicly confess their faith in Jesus Christ. They talk about generational wealth, gratitude, how wealth can be “loud and quiet,” how you can lose your health, your money, even your friends, but a relationship with Jesus you keep forever. One of them went as far as saying: “I’ll tell the world from the highest mountain, and that’s the reason I am where I am today.”
You can watch the full sermon (in Spanish) here:
These testimonies raise a direct question for us: if someone who has everything decides not to hide his faith, why do we, who often have so much less to lose, still hide ours?
JESUS’ PROMISE TO THOSE WHO CONFESS HIM
Jesus was very clear about what it means to acknowledge Him before others:
“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
“And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.” Luke 12:8-9
The public confession of Christ is not a minor detail or one religious option among others. It is the very door of salvation:
“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… Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:9-11
OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES: HIDING OR CONFESSING
Scripture is full of characters who had to decide between hiding or confessing their faith, and the consequences were very different in each case.
Jonah tried to run from his calling and hide from God’s presence (Jonah 1:1-3). A storm nearly destroyed the ship he fled on, and he had to publicly confess before the sailors: “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD… because I fled from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:9-10). When he finally confessed and obeyed, God used his testimony to save an entire city.
Esther initially hid that she was Jewish (Esther 2:10), but the decisive moment came. Mordecai told her:
“If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14
Esther decided to reveal herself: “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16). And God used her courage to save her entire people.
Daniel and his friends never hid their devotion to God: they refused the king’s food, prayed publicly three times a day even when it was forbidden, and would not worship the golden image. God exalted them, delivered them from the fiery furnace and the lions’ den, and pagan kings ended up acknowledging their God (Daniel 2:47; 3:28-29; 6:26-27).
David confessed his sins openly (Psalm 32:5; 51) and attributed every victory to God before the people (Psalm 18; Psalm 34:1-3). When he danced “with all his might” before the ark, unconcerned with his royal dignity, his wife Michal despised him for it. David’s response was firm: “I will celebrate before the LORD… and I will be even more undignified than this” (2 Samuel 6:21-22). The one who criticized him for confessing his faith openly was the one who lost the blessing.
THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST AND OUR CONFESSION
Jesus Himself is the greatest example that humility and obedience end in exaltation:
“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” 1 John 4:15
CONCLUSION
These examples, from Jonah to the businessmen who today confess Christ from their platforms of success, teach us the same lesson: when we try to hide our calling or our faith, God allows circumstances that force us to confess. But when we confess and obey publicly, God shows His mercy and uses our testimony to reach others.
If you want to change your life, we invite you to receive God into your heart, because only Jesus Christ can make you a new person. Visit our page KNOW CHRIST.
