Idle Confession
Scripture Reading - Luke 24:11 KJV
And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
In our last lesson we taught on “Negative Confession”. The negative confession can put a dark damper on the whole atmosphere surrounding you. Negative words typically work against God’s goodness and can hurt those people that are listening. Therefore, we wonder why people choose to go in the negative direction when going into the positive direction is choosing to go God’s Way. In another lesson we taught on “Confession” in the sense of you are what you say. So confession can be a confession of faith but it can also be a confession of the reality you are living right now. In a previous lesson we spoke on “The Good Confession” which is speaking God’s Word. This is one of the highest forms of confession because we are echoing the Will of God upon the earth. As it was said, “We are ambassadors for Christ Jesus according to 2 Corinthians 5:20.” Heaven is our home but while we are present on this earth we shall speak as God’s representatives. Thus, we shall speak forth His (God, our Heavenly Father’s) Words while visiting the earth to establish His Will upon this earth. Also, in a previous lesson we spoke about making the “Godly Confession” unto Salvation because that is the first necessary “confession” we must do to be a part of the family of God. Once you are in the Family of God, as a Christian, you automatically are a member in good standing of the Kingdom of God. In today’s lesson we will discuss what it means to have an “Idle Confession.” One definition of an “Idle Confession” is storytelling and jokes that don’t have any positive impact on the other person’s soul. Yes, the “Idle Conversation” could be stories about fictitious people but if there is no moral to the story what good is it? In today’s society we (ihlcc) have seen plenty of social media applications that ask you to fill out their questionnaire to determine what type of person you are. The results of the questionnaires are usually some happy and positive response that you are a good person. Now is this the truth according to God’s Word? Absolutely not! Does this questionnaire explain how to become a good person? No it does not. Therefore at best these types of computer conversation are nothing more than a waste of your time and energy that leads people to an “idle confession” about themselves. We also mentioned in a previous lesson that “idle confessions” very often occur when people start talking positively about themselves without glorifying God. We put the note about God into the conversation because it is very easy to magnify yourself in the eyes of someone else without mentioning the Grace of God that empowered you to do well. Just recently we (ihlcc) read an article that explain how a certain Christian wanted a larger platform. They mentioned that they wanted their name to be greater like the names of some famous people. However, we noted that the person didn’t mention that appealing to a larger audience would give them a greater opportunity to witness for Jesus but instead said that their faith is only between their self and God. This seems like an “idle tales”, therefore we (ihlcc) concluded to not believe them. Everything we do takes some measurement of energy whether physical, mental or spiritual and for that reason we should avoid idle conversations which lead to “idle confessions” about one owns opinions about their life or the meaning of life outside of God. We firmly believe that God has us in the palm of His Holy Hands and we are only on earth to establish His Kingdom (God’s Will of earth) and spread His Name (The Name of Jesus is our Salvation). Therefore to increase our personal influence apart from increasing our testimony about the goodness and grace of God seems “idle” to us indeed. Another aspect of “Idle Confession” comes from people debating good against good or good against bad. Yes, this begs for more explanation so here we go. Debating good against good is the common church fight between doctrines. We have personally engaged in the defense of our faith conversations with those who believe differently to no avail. The many conversations we have had and listened to generally don’t change either party they only seem to separate our fellowship in the future. These idle conversations do produce an “idle confession” about the other people, so why not avoid them. Likewise, the debate of good over bad is very common indeed and sometimes it is useful (profitable) but when we see this public debate on TV, or hear this debate on talk radio and the internet it is very obvious that they purposely select two opposing opinions for strife and debate to promotion higher rating and attract more listeners. Thus, an "idle confession” almost always follows. Therefore we believe the majority of these types of conversations are “Idle” and unworthy of God’s approval. We know that all strife is against God’s Will because 2 Timothy 2:24a KJV teaches us, “the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient”. Therefore arguing for the sake of trying to win the debate is not gentleness and it is not teaching when the other party is not listening to learn. So dear believer in Christ Jesus you might not recognize all the “idle confession” you speak in a day but you can listen for some “idle confessions” coming forth from your lips and judge those as unnecessary. When you judge the fruitfulness of your own words first it will be much easier to discern an “idle conversations” coming from others. Thus, you will know how to avoid the “idle confession” coming from yourself and believe not the “idle confessions” from others. Amen!