Daily Devotional

Have you ever felt timid or shy about your faith with others? Have you ever thought that others might think what you believe and stand for is weird, odd, or silly. I know as a kid I often had these thoughts around my school friends who were not necessarily christians, and even today with adults in mixed company it can feel uncomfortable to stand up or proclaim the truth that is in me. But why is this? Why should we feel like the good news we have to offer is something to be timid about?
 
The “tolerant” world has taught us that whatever we want to believe is great, just so long as we don’t try and hold others to the standard that it requires. And while this advice seems to be ok on the surface, what the world has also shown us is that when we do declare our faith to others, that “tolerance” they preach suddenly doesn’t apply to Christianity. I think this subtle attack has caused many Christ followers to retreat like a turtle into its shell and resort to practicing our faith in secret and out of the view of others for fear of offending anyone. All the while the world is trying to shove its beliefs down our throats, such as abortion, sexuality, or relative morality.

I believe that has resulted in very passive Christianity all the while the world rages against it and slowly breaks it down into an ineffective and watered down meaningless message. However, what are we so ashamed of? Our message of sinful man in need of a merciful savior should be one of hope but instead it seems to be taken as morally superior people trying to destroy the fun and enjoyment of everyone else with religiosity. But if you had cancer and didn’t know it, would you want to live in ignorance until you suddenly started to die in agony never understanding what went wrong? Or would you accuse the doctor who communicated your reality along with the painful steps needed to achieve remission of fear mongering and trying to ruin your life with painful but ultimately helpful medicine?

That is the gospel, it is the message of salvation to an otherwise hopeless and condemned people. It is the story of a loving and merciful God that made the ultimate sacrifice so that a way might be made for us imperfect and rebellious creatures. All we need to do is believe in Jesus! John 3:18 says “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already…” We have the cure! We know who the Great Physician is! How can we not share this amazing news, that there is hope for our eternity?

New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.