Something caught me off guard this week as I was packing lunchboxes for my children one morning. I was half listening to the national news when I heard our President state in a press conference, that “he had quit smoking 95%.”

What does that even mean? What are the parameters for determining such a thing? In my mind you are either a smoker or you are not. You are either trying to quit or you’re not trying. My mind wandered even further. I would never say I’m 95% married. One is either married or not married. Right?

The same principle applies to our confession of faith in Christ. We either believe He is the Christ the Son of the Living God, or we don’t. In Luke 9, a conversation unfolds between Jesus and the 12 disciples He was teaching and training.

“Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’

They replied, ‘Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.’

‘But what about you?’ he asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’

Peter answered, ‘The Christ of God.”

Can you picture it? There was no hesitation. Peter, speaking for the disciples, believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Peter didn’t say, “We disciples discussed it and we are about 95% sure you are the Son of God.” No, they were certain.

This leads me to another question. Does confessing our faith always mean we’ll live out our faith when we are tested? I want you to see something in Luke 22:31-32.

”Simon, Simon (which was Peter), Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus knows the battle we face in this fallen world. The Enemy wants nothing more than to destroy us and turn us from our Savior. Peter is a great example of this. He boldly denied the very one he confessed to believing (Luke 22). Christ knew this would happen. He knew that in a moment of weakness, Peter would fall into the trap of the Enemy. Did this make Peter’s confession any less? Not at all. I believe it made his faith even stronger. Jesus even told him that once he had turned back from his sin of denial he was to strengthen his brothers.

You may be in a situation where your faith is being tested from all sides. Satan may be sifting you like wheat. You know the truth and you believe it whole-heartedly, but living it out is a whole different story. I want to encourage you to NOT listen to the lies of the Enemy. He wants your faith to be non-existent, and he would probably settle for it to be a small percentage. But your faith cannot be measured by a percentage. It either is or it isn’t.

Let us one day be able to say these words of Paul: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have KEPT THE FAITH.” 2 Timothy 4:7