Matthew 10:32-33
New International Version 1984
(NIV1984)
32 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also
acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns
me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.
I wonder sometimes how many people
have really taken this scripture to heart.
It is plain and simple that we need to acknowledge Jesus so that He can
acknowledge us before the Father. In
other words we need to proclaim Jesus as Lord to others so that more may come
to know Him. Sometimes that is very
difficult to do because we are somehow afraid of what their reaction will
be. It is easy for me to sit and type my
thoughts out and let those who want to read them be able to do so. It is another thing to bring Christ up in a
public setting where others may disregard you as crazy. It is also pretty easy to proclaim Jesus as
Lord in the Church setting. Answering
all the Sunday school questions the way we are supposed to but it is another
thing to walk outside the church and walk the way you want to walk,
disregarding what you might have said in Sunday school. I have had several people say that they don’t
go to church because all the people are hypocrites. They don’t want to be labeled that way and
they certainly don’t want to associate with people who say one thing on Sunday
morning and by Monday morning they have forgotten all the right answers and
have gone back to the business character.
I have seen this type of action from
people in church who proclaim to be Christians within the confines of the
church building but act very differently when they step out the door. I believe in these scriptures Jesus is not
speaking of the acknowledgement that we so often do as Christians. We acknowledge Him by going forward on Sunday
morning to proclaim Him as your Lord. We
may go forward in church if there is an altar call, we may go forward in church
and kneel and pray during worship time, we may be baptized to represent our new
life in Christ but if we walk out of the church doors and disregard God for the
rest of the week, we are not acknowledging Him amongst men and Jesus is clear
that if we disown Him we will be disowned.
I have a family member who keeps
posting things on Facebook that are of atheistic nature. His main target is on how Christians portray
themselves in public. He has been hurt
by Christians and thus has turned away from God. It is disheartening to think that he is
denying the Father amongst men. Of
course he puts the blame on others but in the end it is ultimately his
decision. We need to be careful to be
the same person inside the church as we are on the outside. Putting up a fake front within the confines
of the church ends up driving people away.
People watch those who claim to be Christians. They watch how we interact with each other,
how we interact with our business partners, how we talk, what we drink, where
we go, what movies we watch, if you are a Christian they need to see that you
are different from them. When they see
that you are different and they see that it is good, they are more apt to want
to learn how they can become a Christian.
But if they see someone who grumbles all the time, never smiles, and
just plainly does not seem to be happy, they are not going to want that type of
life and I don’t blame them. We must set
ourselves apart from this world but we need to display to the world that Jesus
is Lord of all and that no one can come to the Father except through Him. We need to let them see our light shine for
Him. They need to see that we know where
we are going and that it is a joy to serve the Lord. Will everyone like and appreciate us? No, but we will be less likely to turn
people away from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Remember, in this passage He is
instructing His apostles on the task He has for them to complete as He sends
them out amongst non-believers. We are
instructed in the same manner.
Challenge:
Seek Him daily, worship with
believers as often as possible and then go out and share with others what His
as done for you through actions and words.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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