Never Ashamed.

 Never be ashamed of God, of the Gospel of Christ- never!

Mar_8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Rom_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.

Rom_5:5  And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Rom_9:33  As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Rom_10:11  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

2Ti_1:8  Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God

2Ti_1:12  For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

1Pe_4:16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

1Jn_2:28  And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

Excerpt - EJ Waggoner--

'Ashamed of the gospel of Christ! 

Could there possibly be a worse case of the exaltation of self above God? 

For to be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, which is the power of God, is an evidence that the man who feels thus ashamed really thinks himself superior to God, and that it is a lowering of his dignity to be associated with the Lord.

  "Ashamed of Jesus! sooner far

  Let evening blush to own a star;

  He sheds the beams of light divine

  O'er this benighted soul of mine.

  "Ashamed of Jesus! just as soon

  Let midnight be ashamed of noon;

  'Twas midnight with my soul till he,

  Bright Morning Star, bade darkness flee."'

(11/20/2020)

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If I were to be ashamed of myself, it means I would be embarrassed, deeply humiliated by my own actions, or my own perceived shortcomings whether or not they are of a nature I could control. 

I have been deeply ashamed to be overweight throughout my entire life - some times more ashamed than others. I have been given reason to feel that shame by many others over the course of my life. Snide remarks from strangers, blatant verbal abuse by those I love, authority figures - Doctors and the like- using my weight to shame me (and I mean that sincerely. There is a great difference between a medical professional being genuinely concerned for your health due to weight, and wanting to shame a patient- thinking that is the affective treatment.) I have had people outright say, 'Wow, your butt is huge!' And, when you hear things like that, the shame you feel is overwhelming. That person didn't make that remark in order to give me a compliment. It was meant to shock  me and hurt me, and make me feel deep humiliation. Being overweight isn't the same for everyone. Some carry weight evenly distributed all over, while other have a focused concentration of that excess weight which makes them look even worse. A giant pear shaped person is subject to more ridicule than an apple shape.  Laugh if you need to at my description, but it's true. 

I'm talking about knowing what it means to feel shame towards oneself. It's something I know very, very well.  

Now, what do I know about feeling ashamed of another person? I have felt that towards other people during my life- ashamed of actions they committed that I wouldn't dream of doing simply because I'm an extreme introvert. I've been ashamed of others behavior. Go ahead shake your heads and tell me it's wrong to be ashamed of others. When someone close to you gets drunk and makes a public spectacle of themselves and you, feeling ashamed of that person's behavior may or may not be wrong I don't know. Is being ashamed of another really just saying their actions, their whatever is it I'm ashamed of is a REFLECTION on me, and therefore it's hurt me because others have viewed me in the light of their shameful behavior? I'm embarrassed by association? I'm humiliated by association? 

Shame towards ourselves and being ashamed of others…  when you know shame towards yourself are you less likely to be ashamed of others?

I don't know, what I do know is, that we are NOT TO BE ASHAMED OF CHRIST.  

Why would we be ashamed of Christ? What could cause us to be ashamed of our Savior? We are not to be ashamed of the Gospel of our Christ. Why should we be, it's the Gospel of Salvation! 

If we are ever in a situation where we feel humiliated by our Savior and His truth, we need to reevaluate our relationship with Him and quick!

When the apostle Peter denied Christ, he was ASHAMED to be associated with Him! He was fearful of being known to be associated with Christ. The deep remorse Peter felt over his denying Christ not once, but three times, was overwhelming. He didn't want to be associated with someone who had earned the intense disfavor of the church leadership, and was being put on trial for His life. He was afraid the association would mean that he too would be put to death! He was ashamed of Christ! Humiliated by his association with him in those moments of denying Him. Peter had claimed he'd NEVER deny Christ. In that boast he was saying he would NEVER be ashamed to be associated with Him. And yet, he was, much to his own horror and self-loathing.

I know what it's like to be ashamed of myself, in appearance and in actions. I know what it's like to be ashamed of others. I know what it's like to be encouraged to feel shame for myself, in appearance and actions. We need to feel shame for our sins, shame, remorse, regret, repentance. When we are ashamed of the sins we've committed we are recognizing the wrongness of them. 

When we are ashamed of others we are recognizing what we believe to be the wrongness in the thing we are ashamed of about them. If that thing we are ashamed of about them brings us shame only because it embarrasses us, and not because it's a sinful action, we need to look into our own hearts and question the validity of our shame towards them. 

In our Christian life we need to recognize any sign at all that we might have of feeling ashamed of our Savior. We need to be able to have CHRIST in ALL we do, in EVERY place we go, in ALL the actions we commit CHRIST should be with us! We cannot be ashamed of Him to be LORD OF OUR LIVES in ALL WAYS. 

I may feel shame over myself, right or wrong, but I hope and pray by the GRACE of GOD I am never ashamed of my SAVIOR! Not that I think I am better than the apostle Peter who denied Christ, no, no, no, I just hope and pray I'm never in a situation such as He was put in and if I ever am, that I seek forgiveness and repentance instantly such as he did. 

All through the love of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever!!!!!!! Amen!

(11/20/2022)