Ashamed

For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words 

in this adulterous and sinful generation,

the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him 

when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

Mark 8:38

The Bible clearly teaches that believers are separate from the world:  

• We are strangers in this world - I Peter 2:10-12
• We are sanctified (set apart) - I Cor. 6:11
• We are to have an eternal perspective, not an earthly mind - Col. 3:1-4
• We are going to be persecuted - II Tim. 3:12
• We are to transform our minds through the Word, not conform to the world - Romans 12:2

Yet the church seems to struggle separating from the world. We do the pendulum swing - either we are so busy looking like the world to attract them or we work so hard at not looking like the world that present ourselves as completely out of touch, that we just can't get it right.  We think we have to either look like the world or not look like the world and we miss that it's a heart issue.   If our hearts (mind, thoughts) are being conformed into the image of Jesus, because we do what we do and feel what we feel because we think what we think, then we will separate more and more from the world because Jesus and the world cannot be further apart.

Thus we come to the ashamed issue.  In Mark 8 Jesus warns that those who are ashamed of Him and His words will be denied by Jesus when He returns.  This is an amazing warning - it gets right to the heart of the issue. If you find yourself ashamed of Jesus, it reveals where your heart truly is.

So what kind of things could we find ourselves ashamed of as followers of Jesus?  How about these for a starter:

• the bible is the inspired Word of God
• God created by His very spoken word in six literal days (do I see some squirming going on?)
• Noah's flood was worldwide
• God commanded Joshua to kill men, women and children (including babies) 
• Jesus is God
• Jesus literally physically died and came back to life
• Jesus is the only way to have an eternal relationship with God
• Hell is real - so is eternal punishment
• Any sex outside of heterosexual marriage is sin, outside of God's plan, and has consequences
• Jesus is physically returning as Judge

All of these points are taught clearly in scripture but when push comes to shove, we tend to back away from these premises because we don't know how to defend them or we don't want to offend anyone.  By the way, God doesn't need defending - keep that in mind.  But also, as we walk by faith, we believe that God's Word is true, it is accurate and it is sufficient to meet our every need.  Standing on the truth of the Word is something that will separate you from the world - the call to follow Jesus is one that will absolutely set you apart, as well as bring persecution into your life. 

The question is this - if you are ashamed of what God has said is true, then what does your heart truly believe?