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Of Him Will the Son of Man be Ashamed
Have you ever come across a Bible verse and you just have to stop? You know, those jaw-dropping, cold sweat-inducing verses that nearly floor you? Just recently, the one that hit me right in the gut was Mark 8:38:
“For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
When I read this I quite literally had to stop and catch my breath for the question that popped into my head. It’s the question I pose now: Do you care how much He loves you?
This passage comes right after the recollection of John the Baptist’s execution in chapter 6 and together these verses present a powerful challenge to us as Christians. John the Baptist was beheaded for telling the king his marriage was improper. There were no qualms about status or rank or awkwardness at the subject. Just the cold hard truth Herod needed to hear. How many of my relatives did I talk to over Thanksgiving or Christmas about their salvation? I bet your guess would be spot on.
When I read these verses it caused me to ask some hard-hitting questions of myself. Do I care how much He loves me? Do I care for the immense sacrifice He made for me? Do I care for the things He has done in my life on a continual basis that is only for glory?
Do I care how much He loves me?
If I truly understand His love for me, then why in the world am I not screaming His message from the rooftops? For Christians to effectively evangelize, we need to step up and unabashedly proclaim His love or stop professing that we truly know Him. Stop and try to grasp how His plan for our lives has only been for good. Look back at the disgusting state of sin from which He rescued us when we deserved nothing but eternal death and separation.
Now look at the hundreds we come in contact with every day. From our most intimate relations to those we may pass in the street every day. Why do I deny them this incredible cure for “man’s main malady?” Do I care?
Now, if you are like me you have heard this message a hundred times. Why does it have no effect? Again, if you are like me it is because we listen to the speaker, not The Speaker. Listen again to the words of Jesus: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”
I don’t know about you but the last thing I want is to arrive at judgment, and as I stand before my Mediator He turns His head in shame because I was too embarrassed to talk to others about Him while on earth. But if Jesus’ words are not enough, listen to the words of those who God calls us to talk to:
“I’ve always said that I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and a hell, and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward…how much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? I mean, if I believed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe that truck was bearing down on you, there is a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”
The words of this celebrity atheist scream out for rescue nearly as hauntingly as Christ’s own warning to us.
Do you care how much He loves you?
