I have heard people occasionally say something like this, “My faith is a private matter.” Or, “they were private in their faith.” Or, “Don’t ask me about my walk with God, it’s a private matter.”
Is it true, that faith is a private matter?
There is an aspect of faith in which you could say it is private. But, I don’t think the way most people use that sentence is true.
If you are truly a follower of Christ, i.e. soundly saved, there are some aspects, but not all, of your relationship with the Lord that are personal and private in a sense. If I commit a sin by having a thought in my mind, I need to confess that sin, but not to you. That is a private aspect of my walk with God. Jesus said, that I am to go into my “prayer closet” to pray, instead of standing on the street corner for all to see. There are times for corporate praise of God, but there are also private moments of praise between just me and the Lord. Those are a few examples of how faith can be private. Your confession of sin, and praise of the Lord, or the things that the Lord speaks to your heart, does not have to be published for the entire world to see. In that sense, your faith can be a private matter.
I do not think that is what most people mean when they refer to their faith being private. Most of the time, “private faith” is a bad excuse. Many times it is the retort of someone who claims to have faith but doesn’t have much in their life to back it up.
Stay tuned for more to come
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