I’m sure that most of us can relate to the feeling we get when we should do something, but we just don’t. Whether it’s doing the dishes, walking the dog, or spreading the gospel. Well, why not? For Christianity, sometimes the answer is we don’t want to be embarrassed for it. We try to hide our Christianity in order to fit in.
But here’s three reasons why we shouldn’t be ashamed of Christ.
1. Jesus died on the cross.
We have all heard the story of how Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins. But we don’t really understand exactly what that means for us. Like Mark 15: 16-41 describes, people whipped him, beat him, and placed a crown of thorns on his head. They forced him to take his own cross to a hill called Golgotha (Place of the Skull). Then they nailed his hands and feet to the cross with big, rusty nails. John 19: 30 says, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
When you take into consideration that he went through all that, the whole being embarrassed thing doesn’t seem so bad.
2. Jesus has gone through what we go through.
Right after getting baptized, Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days and while he has there, he was tempted by Satan (Matt. 4: 1-11). Forty days is a long time to go without food, so the devil first tempted him with bread. Jesus used scripture to get out of that temptation. Then he tempted Jesus to jump off the top of a temple, saying that God’s angels will catch him, but Jesus once again turned him down. For a third time the devil tempted Jesus by taking him to a mountain and showing him all the kingdoms of the world and promising them all to him if he bowed down and worshiped him. For a third time Jesus turned him down using scripture. As you can see, Jesus was tempted just as we are. And if I’m being honest, I would probably fail to do what he did. So, when we feel like it’s unfair how much we are being tempted, we should remember that Jesus was tempted just as much.
3. God tells us not to.
Mark 16: 24-25 says “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Let's break this verse down. “’If anyone desires to come after Me,” This is saying if anyone wants to be with Jesus and to follow him. “Let him deny himself,” which means to basically reject the things that you want and to rather do the things that God wants for you, “and take up his cross and follow me.” To take up your cross means to die to your old self through and to be reborn in Christ, which is to repent from the ways of man and to walk as a new person in the ways of God. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” This a what we should focus on for not being ashamed of God. “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it,” can be interpreted as if you want to save your own reputation at school, or work. If you deny God, you may not be laughed at, but God will also deny you when you face judgment. “But whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Let's say you decide not to deny God when pressured, you could be excluded from the friend group, excluded from the rest of your team, or just laughed at. But when you stand before God at judgment, he will welcome you with open arms.
Conclusion.
- It's not unreasonable to do what he asks of us.
- All the suffering we may go through isn't unreasonable cause he went through the same temptations.
- He asks us not to be ashamed of him.
