This is the last post of a series, read part one and part two. Lately, we have been examining some Scripture about “going public with Jesus.” If there is one overarching purpose for our lives after we become Christians it is to “point people to the love of Christ.”
God could beam us up to heaven the moment we trust Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior … but He doesn’t. He doesn’t do this because there are still roughly six billion people who are outside of Christ’s redeeming love.
Jesus makes it clear in Luke 12 that His desire for each of us is that we witness to the forgiveness we have experienced in the cross of Christ. Just as you and I need His grace, so do those around us—no matter what type of mask they are wearing.
Listen to our Lord’s plea about helping others experience His reality.
“I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.” —Luke 12:8-9
You and I are part of God’s family, possessing the gift of forgiveness and eternal life because of God’s loving grace to us. This passage has nothing to do with becoming a Christian. His grace is a gift He offers freely. Faith alone in Jesus alone seals our family membership for all eternity.
Jesus is just saying to each of us, “Let others know what I have done for you. I want to use your words to inform others around you that I love them as I love you.” Jesus is asking me to be verbal about Him. If I do this, He points me out to the angels of God and shows me off.
If I value what my fear says to me more than what He says to me, Jesus doesn’t say He will point me out as unfaithful. Instead, Jesus says that when the angels ask about my life, He will admit to them that I have not acknowledged His name before other people.
The reason I don’t acknowledge Him is that I value the opinion of my peers more than the opinion of my Savior. None of us wants that on our tombstones. I think we all would rather have “failure” on our tombstone rather than “disobedient.”
So how do we get past what people think and our fear of failure? My only counsel for my own heart, and maybe yours too, is to “fall more in love with Jesus.” If I do this, I will not want to shut up about Him.
When Peter denied knowing His Savior, Jesus had only one question for him. And He asked it three times …
“Peter, do you love me?”
“Peter, do you love me?”
“Peter, do you love me?”
When examining my heart and my fears, I just rewrite that same question three times like this …
“John, do you love Me?”
“John, do you love Me?”
“John, do you love Me?”
When I do this, I discover the truth about the fight in my heart. It might help you to do the same.