What are you ashamed of?

Shame. . . it is a word we all know.

What are things we are ashamed of?

• Our Failures
• Our Past Mistakes
• Our Parents
• Our Children
• Our Jobs
• Our Spouses
• Our Financial Standing
• Our Decisions
• Our Abilities

We go through life with regrets and things that we wish we would have done differently. These things, as I have discussed before, define us really. Without the actions of yesterday, we can't take actions today. In my bible study today, I read the following:

1 Phillipians 1:20 & 21 KJV
According to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing shall I be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ should be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.


1 Phillipians 1:20 & 21NCV
I expect and hope that I will not fail Christ in anything but that I will have the courage now, as always to show the greatness of Christ in my life her on earth, whether I live or die. To me the only important thing about living is Christ, and dying would be profit for me.


1 Phillipians 1:20 & 21 The Message
I can hardly wait to continue my course. I don't expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardlesss of whether I live or die.They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger, Dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose.

This scripture setting is when Paul is in jail and he is essentially saying, you may imprison me as a person, but you cannot imprison what God has done in me and will do through me. We can't wait until someone 'imprisons' us before we really look at what it means to proclaim Christ and what he means to us.

What this says to me is that I am to be ashamed of nothing, especially my relationship with the Lord.

Isn't it easier to talk to people about the new gift you got for Christmas, how your kids are doing in school or where you are going on vacation than to tell someone about the love of Jesus. People who don't know Jesus as Savior don't mind telling us their stories of how they live their lives and the personal choices they make. So, while we should not shove our beliefs down the throat of others, we should look for openings in conversations to be able to share our relationship with Christ and the difference it has made in our lives.

In the book of Acts, when the Holy Ghost, came to dwell in the believers, it gave them power to proclaim who and what God is. Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me. . . .and unto the uttermost parts of the earth"

We should never be ashamed of the blood that Jesus shed for us, without it , we would be not only miserable inside, but lost for eternity. I am so thankful, and I pray that in the coming days, that God give me a boldness like never before to share what He has done in my life. I am thankful for repentance, for baptism in Jesus Name and for the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Without Him, I am nothing!

Blessings!

Shelly