January 26

“Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord.” 2 Timothy 1:6

Why should we be ashamed of confessing ourselves to be Christians? When the Lord Jesus was hanged on the cross, he bore our shame as well as our sins. The Bible clearly teaches us that he was put to shame. He was humiliated by the soldiers in the Praetorium and disgraced by them at Calvary. If we suffer disgrace from men, that is our rightful portion; no indignity that we receive today can compare with the shame which our Lord endured on the cross.

Let it, then, be no surprise to us to suffer shame, for this is the portion of all who belong to the Lord. It is really the world which should be ashamed. A poet has exclaimed, “Can a flower be ashamed of the sun?” Impossible! As a flower opens gratefully for all to see its response to the sunlight, so will we openly confess before men the Lord who has done so much for us.