Are You Ashamed of Christ?

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Scripture: Luke 9:23-27 (ESV)

23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

 

Meditation:

            This scripture is very close to my heart. If only because I have disobeyed what it says so many times its meaning is engraved upon my heart. I think we all have. The question is how do we know when we have set down the cross and picked up the burdens of the world? Can we know that we are in the process of forfeiting our own soul?

            I believe we can. However, it takes some effort on our part to do the discernment needed to keep us on the right path. The first way we can tell that we may be on the wrong track is found in verse 26 above. If we find that we are ashamed of our belonging to Christ that should be a big red flag for us. I don’t think there is any way to belong to Christ and be ashamed of him at the same time.

            The second way we can be warned of straying from the ways of Jesus is by staying faithfully in his word. Granted we will all fall short when measured against the standard of Jesus every time we compare ourselves to him. The question is do we care or not about coming up short?

            The shockingly good news of the cross is that no matter how far short we find ourselves God’s love extended through the cross is always deep enough to find us. Our openness to being corrected and our willingness to repent are the final signs that our live is being lived the way Jesus wants us to live. Cling to that old rugged Cross and you’ll exchange it someday for a crown. Amen  

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