| “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” |
| —Romans 1:16 |
A favorite pastime of young people—at least as judged by observation—is to respond to information with which they do not agree by attempting to shame the individual who has expressed the unacceptable opinion. Some adults have picked up this behavior, as well. You can observe this “shaming” by watching any of the popular political pundits comment on various TV shows.
Once someone says something, or does something, prompting an individual or group of individuals to feel that such an opinion or decision is offensive or incorrect, the individual or group turns on the person offering the “unacceptable” opinion and attempts to make statements intended to shame that person into retracting, or significantly modifying, the expressed opinion. And, the emphasis here is clearly on feelings, since facts and factual information appear to play no part in these transactions, whatsoever.
If, for example, someone advances his or her carefully reasoned and scientifically based belief that human activity has virtually no significant negative effect on the long term climate of our planet, that one quickly becomes a target for shaming.
How can that person possibly disagree with such a popularly held opinion—an opinion that has become so very important as a means to redistribute the higher income of the more prosperous nations on earth to those nations less prosperous, and as a means to bring about gigantically transformative political and cultural change? Doesn’t that one realize the harm we prosperous humans have done to the pristine mother earth?
Or, if someone expresses his or her carefully reasoned opinion that people have broken the law by either entering the United States without the proper documentation, or by overstaying the terms of their visas in order to continue to live here, again without the proper documentation, that one might as well gear up for a major shaming.
Doesn’t that one realize that we should welcome all those less fortunate than ourselves? Doesn’t that one understand that the immigration laws are wrong and,therefore, should be disobeyed?
The point is that our nation, our cities, towns, and villages, and even our churches have become places where shame rules so much of what we think, say, and do. We cringe that we might become an object of shame. How very sad for all of us.
As a teenager, I was “goofy” enough with regard to my joy at belonging to Jesus that I carried my bright-red Youth for Christ Bible on the top of my school books. I am keenly aware that carrying that Bible did not make me a better Christian. But, it did help remind me, when I was tempted to be more of a jerk than I usually am, that I was Christ’s representative. I think that Bible helped me refrain from trying to fit in with the very people—my peers—with whom I would never ever really have fit in anyway.
I also learned an important lesson by carrying that Bible every day of high school. I learned that I need not be ashamed of my strong Christian beliefs. By the time I became an adult, I had lost all concern I might have had about whether anyone knew that I was a follower of Jesus. Thus, whenever someone asked me, I openly gave God credit for every bit of the success I enjoyed in my professional career and in my personal life. There were times when being that open about my faith—but never pushy—made others turn away from me. But, my openness also encouraged some other individuals to become more serious about their own faith.
We should never be ashamed of what God has so graciously done for us by saving us from our sins through the birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of His precious Son, Jesus. We should join with the Apostle Paul in declaring, as he did, in Romans 1:16:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
“Believers will strengthen their faith when they decide to have no shame regarding what God has done in their lives.” That’s my key sentence for this blog post. As we step out into a new day, let’s remember whose we are. Let’s determine to never be ashamed of our Christian faith. We don’t need to act obnoxiously. But, we do well when we acknowledge what God has done without any shame. With great joy and full confidence, we can follow in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. Yes: “Believers will strengthen their faith when they decide to have no shame regarding what God has done in their lives.”
Based on a blog originally posted on Friday, August 12, 2016
