“Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke 9:26
A church friend has a Karaoke business and having not been in a long while, my wife and I headed off to the bar! Bellying up, I ordered a Diet Coke and listened, as one by one, people came forward to sing. One particular fellow stood out, singing an old, harder ‘rock’ song by heart as he walked around the bar. Though strange, something familiar about him kept drawing my attention. He was certainly different!
My name showed up on the screen, and being an old Elvis fan I was going to embarrass myself with one of his hits. It was then my friend said, “Hey… how about singing that one you do, “’Jesus is Just Alright with Me’ by the Doobie Brothers!” I smiled, took the mic, and ‘stood out!’ After I was done, Mr. Rocker walked right up to me, in front of EVERYONE, and shook my hand. He didn’t SAY a word… just stood there. When I asked him if He knew where he was going when he died, he smiled! It was then I recognized the ‘something familiar’ about him. He was a brother in Christ!
Decades ago, being urged by the Spirit to be more vocal about my faith, I found myself embarrassed of how I might ‘stand out.’ “What will people THINK of me?” kept going around in my head. Until one day, while reading this verse, God personally delivered His message to the front door of MY heart. I was ashamed. But immediately resolved…no more!
This same story verse is found in Mark chapter 8, only worse! Jesus starts off in verse 34 with the words, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. It goes downhill from there because He pulls no punches. He then clearly said, “K.C., this life is NOT about you… but ME! Now what is YOUR next move!?” Jesus can sure be blunt!
Things in 2018 are a LOT harder than they were in the 70’s. If there is one thing that you can be SURE of today, it is this… if you want to become unpopular… bring up Jesus Christ! Why? Because strange things happen to people when you do. There is nothing like the name of ‘Jesus’ to cause folks to dig out the hammer and nails! Looking to Jesus for relief, He just smiles and says, “Told ya!”
Fellow Pilgrims, please know this for sure. When you step outside today, there WILL be opportunities to cause a stir. In fact, Jesus PROMISES those conditions. But with His hand upon you, there will be a decision to make. His Father is watching what you will do… and so is the devil. The question is…”are ya gonna sing?”
