Ashamed of Jesus

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Scripture: Mark 8:38 (ESV)

For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Devotion:

            This saying of Jesus is undoubtedly the thought behind Paul’s writing in Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Together, these passages state an essential truth: Those who want to be known as Christians must not be ashamed of Jesus or His gospel. In our culture today, the pressure to conform to this world is getting more significant by the minute.

            Our culture pushes the idea that following Jesus and believing in the Bible as the authoritative word of God is old-fashioned or bigoted. Culture hands us its ever-changing book of cultural norms and says, here, follow this. In it, we read that “love is love” and seeks to have us compromise our beliefs. We read that “men can have babies, and women can be transformed into men. Indeed, item after item in this new book of cultural norms encourages us to abandon biblical truth and seeks to make us ashamed of Jesus and His gospel.

            The Christian worldview is out of style. Culture says that following the teachings of Jesus on sexuality, marriage, gender identity, divorce, and many other cultural issues is just plain wrong. What is a Christian to do? First, we must never fall under cultural demands to conform our lives to the world’s pattern. Instead, our minds must be transformed by the gospel to follow the pattern of Christ. Second, we must learn to take up the whole armor that God has provided for us in scripture. We are learning to clothe ourselves with truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, salvation, having the shield of faith, and the word of God.

            Then we can stand against the world, the flesh, and the devil when they come demanding that we change or else they will cancel us from society. Let the cancellations come! Though we fail as the apostle Peter did on the night of Jesus’ arrest and trial, we will repent and return more potent than ever. With God’s provision, we will win a great victory for Him.

Prayer:

            Lord, may we never be ashamed of you or your teachings. Help us to live in such a way that we bring honor and not shame upon the name of Jesus Christ. Be our provision against the world, flesh, and devil. Grant us your peace and strength, Oh Lord, that we may be living testimonies to the power of Christ in our dark and dangerous world. Amen

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