A Thought For The Week Of December 15

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." (Philippians 1:20) I hope that I will never be ashamed of Christ. One of the things that our society seems to try to do to us is shame us into not being open about our faith. Faith and religion we're told are private matters to be lived out at home or in church, but not publicly. That, of course, would be to fundamentally deny the gospel, which tells us to make disciples. You can't make disciples if you';re ashamed of your faith or if you're shamed into keeping your faith to yourself. So I think Christians need to be bolder  in speaking publicly about what we believe. Not aggressive or obnoxious or judgmental or arrogant - but bolder in proclaiming to all that the grace of God has come in Jesus. Things, of course, were much harder in Paul's day. Here in Canada, aside from the fact that some people won;t like it, there's really no risk involved in sharing our faith or talking about grace or Jesus. In Paul's day the risk was greater, so he writes that "Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death." He was willing to give his life for Christ - we're only called to live for Christ; to not be ashamed of letting the people around us know that Jesus is, in fact, our Lord. Christmas gives us an opportunity to do that - because it's the one time of year when people are expecting to hear the story, it's a little less threatening perhaps for us to tell the story. So, take advantage of this opportunity to tell people about Jesus. Have a great week!