Are you Ashamed?
In the Word- 3-9-15
There are a lot of things in life that we do that we are embarrassed about but one thing we do not ever need to be ashamed of is the testimony of our Lord, nor of those who walk in Him and His promises. If it means we admit we are sinners then so be it, if we have to exclude ourselves from doing things we do not feel right about doing because it says in the Word of God to ‘abstain’ from them then we should be confident in our stand. I am not ashamed to admit I have failed to be bold as I should in preaching the Gospel message. I do however seek to know the Truth and teach it as the Word of God shows it to us, Word for word as much as possible.
We all do things
that cause us to be humbled, it's what we do after that that counts.
Because of this
I had to explain to a church full of children what I did, and why I did it, I
could not remain embarrassed about my failures though because I had to find a
way to make it a learning experience; I shall not forget this year! I could have behaved as if it were a typo, or
a mistake that was not my fault, but I owned up to it and because of that I
taught a lesson on Paraphrases and studying to be sure what you hear is what
God breathed in His Word. Thank God they gave me grace and took the lesson in
and did not tease me. I was truly humbled by this mistake.
I
have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives
in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the
grace of God; for if righteousness comes through
the law, then Christ died in vain.” Galatians 2:20-21
God has given me
grace too and forgiven my ‘oopses’ by showing me where I went wrong and encouraging
me in the Word to dig deeper into the meaning of each scripture I do post for
memorizing. The one posted above was the
first one I had to memorize for a class. The words were easy enough but the
address got me stumped for a month!
He has chosen
to forgive all our sins, whether it is pride or murder if we just ask Him to
forgive us, God will. That does not mean
we do not have to suffer the consequences for our actions, it just means we are
clean of sin by Christ.
Having made the
mistakes we can choose t hide away and not be around our fellow Christians or
we can choose to be forgiven and walk the path God has put before us with
humbleness and expecting mercy and grace.
Therefore do not
be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner but share with
me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time
began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ,
who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light though the
gospel… For this reason I also suffer these things; never the less I am not
ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to
keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. Hold fast the pattern of
sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ
Jesus that good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who
dwells in us. 2 Timothy 1:8-14
If you go through a rough patch stick with God and He will help you
through it and give you someone to help through their rough patch. It’s kind of
neat that way and that is one good reason not to be ashamed of the things you
have been taken from when you were saved by His grace.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for saving us from sin and destruction
by our own hands. Help us never to be ashamed to say “I believe in Jesus!” and
share your story just as You purposed for us to do. In Jesus name, amen.
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