Proclaimed of It, not Ashamed of It
Luke 9:26 “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.”
For years and years, I have heard this scripture paraphrased: “Whoever is ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of him.” Now this interpretation is not incorrect, but it is incomplete. Let’s look at the scripture again.
Luke 9:26 “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.”
The two words from this text that I want us to focus on are “my words.” Surely, Jesus makes mention of us being ashamed of Him. In fact, many bible quoters that I have known throughout the years have paraphrased that portion of our text quite well. But the one part that they left out was, “my words.”
As we begin to examine this further, let me ask you a simple question. Why is it that so many believers in Christ are ashamed of the words of Christ? You may wonder, how can I ask this question? Here’s how. Too often we see Christians repeating and replicating the negative reports they get in life. If the teacher says Lil’ Billy has attention deficit disorder, then we should not get on the phone and tell everyone exactly what the teacher said. If the doctor says that we have a condition that is not favorable to our well being, we don’t need to call everyone from Auntie Annie to Uncle Zachariah to spread the news. Instead, we should stand boldly and firmly on the word of God and not be ashamed of what He has spoken over our lives.
During our pregnancy with Evan, Veronica and I received two reports that were not favorable; one concerned Evan, and the other concerned her. With the one concerning Evan, the doctor suggested abortion as an option. As I looked around his office during “his report,” the Holy Spirit made me mindful of all the books that were within the doctor’s office. It was then that I received this revelation: “He [the doctor] has his books, and I have my book. He’s not ashamed of what his books say. Why should I be ashamed of what my book says?”
Immediately after the doctor gave us his options, I gave him our option. Right in front of him and all “his books,” I began with the statement, “Abortion is not an option.” Immediately following that I said, “We don’t abort our children,” and then I began to get, let’s say, a little loud! Veronica immediately grabbed my hand and said, “Baby… calm down!” In other words, she was saying to me, “I’m in agreement with you.” I didn’t wind up preaching the sermon I wanted to preach to the doctor that day, but we did wind up standing on and not being ashamed of the word of God. The result… a healthy, 8 lb., 12 oz. baby boy.
I won’t go into Veronica’s testimony. I’ll let her share that with you at a later date. However, I do want to share with you this: stand firmly on the word of God, and do not be ashamed of it. If in your quiet time God said, “I have healed you,” don’t be ashamed of it; proclaim of it. Stop worrying that “If I say this, people will think I’m crazy.” Quite honestly, “the crazy people” are the ones who speak doom and gloom over their lives. They are the ones that continually speak sentences of death, not life. Proverbs 18:21 says this: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” If you love life, then speak life over your situation. Proclaim the abundant, more than enough, fruitful life that God has spoken over your life. Proclaim His word as first and final over your life, and never, ever be ashamed of His word because it is by His word that you are all He said that you will ever be. It is by His word that you will do everything He said you will do. And It is by His word that you will have everything He said you will have.
Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”