Courage In Place Of Shame
Luke 9:26 Never be ashamed of being a follower of Jesus Christ and proclaiming His Word loudly!
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
Luke 9:26 NASB1995
If you’ve been following the news lately, you probably know that Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, just added a Twitter-like social media network called Threads. I didn’t hear about Threads until the second day it was available, but I immediately jumped onto the platform because it gave me a new way to share God’s word with the world.
Built on the same platform as Instagram, Threads immediately suggested that I follow people that I “knew” on Instagram. To be honest, I rarely use that social media outlet, usually just to post an interesting picture or video taken on our travels. But to get some followers on Threads, I went in and followed many of the people I had connected with on Instagram many years ago.
In order to build up their social status, a number of those people did likewise and followed me. I began to see what these folks were posting, and quickly unfollowed and muted some of them so I wouldn’t have to put up with reading obscenities or hostile comments targeting conservatives.
By this point, you’re probably wondering where I’m going with this discussion of a social media platform. Well, I must admit to a very human failing. For a moment before I posted my first Heaven On Wheels devotional on Threads, I hesitated, wondering if those who knew me before I was truly born again in Christ would think I had lost my mind or become one of those “religious nuts”. Yes, I felt a moment of shame.
Thank God for His Word and having it engraved in my heart and mind! Like a flash, today’s verse went through my mind and erased any doubt that I should post a link to every day’s devotional on Threads. It gave me courage in place of shame, knowing that I cannot be ashamed of what Jesus did for me. I immediately clicked the Post button, and I’ll post each devotional out there as long as I can.
As Christians, we should never be ashamed of being followers of Jesus Christ. I’ll end today’s devotional with commentary from David Guzik of Enduring Word:
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory: It isn’t easy to walk death row with Jesus. It means that we have to associate ourselves with someone who was despised and executed - but if we are ashamed of Him, He will be ashamed of us.
i. This is a radical call to personal allegiance to Jesus. He wanted to know if we would be ashamed of Him or of His words. If Jesus were not God, this was an invitation to idolatry; because He is God, this is a call to worship.
ii. Ashamed of Me: It’s no wonder that some were ashamed of Jesus during the days of His earthly ministry; it is astounding that any would be ashamed of Him today.
· Jesus, revealed in the full glory of His sacrificial love.
· Jesus, revealed in the full power of His resurrected glory.
· Jesus, ascended to heaven and honored.
· Jesus, loving and praying for His people from heaven.
Who could be ashamed of that?
iii. Yet, some are ashamed. The ashamed man believes; you can’t be ashamed of something you don’t believe in. He believes, but doesn’t take satisfaction and confidence in his belief.
· Ashamed means that you don’t want to be seen together in public.
· Ashamed means that you don’t want to talk about Him.
· Ashamed means that you avoid Him when possible.
iv. Some are ashamed out of fear, some out of social pressure, some out of intellectual or cultural pride. Objectively considered, such shame is a strange phenomenon.
If you ever have doubts about proclaiming the Gospel to anyone, please keep this verse in mind and take satisfaction and confidence in your belief.
Commentary © 2020 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik, used with permission of the author.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
God, give me the boldness and courage to always demonstrate my love and allegiance for the Lord Jesus. I am eternally grateful for His sacrifice to claim me as Your child and heir to the glory of heaven. AMEN
I love this! I too signed up for Threads to see what it’s all about. It seems to be a haven for anti-Christ liberals. No thanks!
And thank you for standing strong in His Word!