Weekend, September 2, 2023
Time to Stand Up
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. (Romans 1:16 NLT)
We’re living in a time when people are standing up for all sorts of causes. And in some cases, people are even willing to lay down their lives for what they believe in.
Isn’t it time that we, as Christians, stand up for what we believe? It seems to me that at a time when so many are standing up for so many causes, there are many in the church who are not standing up for anything. We are embarrassed. We are ashamed. But it’s time to stand up and be counted.
The apostle Paul wrote, “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile” (Romans 1:16 NLT).
Are you ashamed of the gospel of Christ?
We must be especially watchful in this area of denying the Lord, because the Bible tells us that it’s something that will happen in the last days.
Many who once acknowledged Jesus Christ will ultimately deny Him. One of the signs of the last days is that there will be a great apostasy, or a falling away. Some will fall from the faith, Timothy says, and “follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons” (1 Timothy 4:1 NLT).
Yet in the times in which we are living when we have violence at an unprecedented level, who do we often see vilified on television, in movies, and in the press?
It’s people of faith. At best, they portray those who believe in God and have certain moral principles as kooks or feeble-minded dolts. And at worst, they blame them for the problems that our society is facing.
Ironically, these very problems, which are the result of our society’s rejection of God, are then placed at the feet of Christians, as though we have brought them on our culture.
You can say anything. You can believe in anything. But if you stand up and say, “There are absolutes. There is right and wrong, and the Bible says so,” you’re labeled as a crazed fanatic who’s hurting our society.
However, this isn’t the first time in history that Christians have been made scapegoats for the ills of a culture. When Caesar Nero was largely responsible for the burning of Rome, he laid the blame at the feet of the Christians, although they had nothing to do with it.
It isn’t right. It isn’t fair. But it’s part of being a disciple of Jesus. It’s part of the Christian life, although it isn’t something that any of us enjoy.
Yet Jesus said, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12 NKJV).
Wear it as a badge of honor. Remember, you’re in good company. Don’t be ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
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