ashamed

A friend recently confessed that he wished Christians weren’t so rigid. A Christian himself, he felt that we make the Gospel seem off-putting when we’re so dogmatic about things.

He was talking about the pressure we feel as Christians to go along with where our culture is at. These days, it means we should support a lot of lifestyle choices that were unthinkable a few generations ago. If we don’t, we’re intolerant. We oppose diversity. We’re whatever-ist. We are depicted as haters and losers clinging to old superstitions and ignorant of scientific progress.

If we want to be cool in this culture, to get ahead at work, to get along with our non-Christian friends, then sometimes the gospel goes beyond being inconvenient and becomes embarrassing. If those are our goals, then the label “Christian” is not an advantage.

It’s good to remember what Jesus said in Luke 9:23-26: “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 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.’”

We have that choice. We can be embarrassed by Jesus and his requirements. We can be stealth Christians, just keeping our mouths shut and hoping no-one finds out. We can be AWOL Christians, opting to skulk away rather than engage in the moral fights of our times. We can be Quisling Christians, choosing to join with our occupiers. We can do all those things if we’re embarrassed about our faith, if it costs us too much.

But then we should expect Jesus to be embarrassed about us as well. We should anticipate the day when we stand before him and he might say, “This is how you chose to represent me? This is what you thought was discipleship? You really thought that was what I wanted? I’m ashamed you ever carried my name.”

It’s a horrifying thought.