Day 18 - Hope Unashamed

Child of Hope: An Advent Devotional

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Hope Unashamed

Uphold me according to Thy Word, that I may live; and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
Psalm 119:116 (KJV)

Around the water cooler, when talk turns to the weekend, it can be hard to hide. Suzie went water skiing with her friends; Mike went to see his parents; Becky stayed home and worked in the yard. What did you do? The truth is that on Saturday you took some members of the youth group to a Christian concert, and on Sunday you were in worship, but can you say that? How do you respond? “Oh, I did the usual.” Has it come to this, that in order to maintain a relationship with your co-workers you must be economical with the truth when it comes to speaking of Christ? What matters most? Be careful or, one day, God may be too ashamed to acknowledge you!

When we are ashamed of something it is usually because we feel guilty. We are embarrassed to admit that we have been involved. We want to say that we have moved on from such things, that they no longer have any control over us. That may be how things once were, but now we are different. Is that really how we want to explain away our relationship with Christ? Would we not prefer to say, with Paul, that we are “not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).

We need never be ashamed of the hope that is in us – though we may be ashamed of living lives inconsistent with the Gospel. The way to avoid this situation is to ask God to uphold you by His Word. When the Word of God dwells in you richly, permeating every aspect of your character, then the conversations around the water cooler will be markedly different.

Prayer for the Day
Lord God,
teach me to live gently yet openly with others,
modeling both humility and integrity;
then I will never have occasion to deny what I believe,
and I will never be ashamed of my hope.
Through Christ my Lord.
Amen.