I'm Not Ashamed!

I am sometimes ashamed of the Church today. I am ashamed of the way we build buildings while neglecting hearts and souls. I am ashamed of the way we cling to tradition rather than clinging to Almighty God. I am ashamed of the way we idolize the messengers instead of the Messiah. I am ashamed of the way we fixate on the budget of the Church instead of the blood of Christ. I am ashamed of the way we desire for our Church to be sanitized instead of sanctified. I am ashamed of the way the Church bows to the power brokers in her midst instead of bowing before the Power and the Glory. I am ashamed of the way we are incensed over broken things instead of broken hearts. I am ashamed of the way we are more willing to pledge our allegiance to our denomination instead of pledging our hearts to the Kingdom. I am ashamed of the way we celebrate our history with more vigor than we celebrate our destiny. I am ashamed of the way we bore our children with meaningless routine, powerless activities, and colorless dreams instead of inspiring them with the message of salvation, the power of the Cross, and the hope of glory. I am ashamed of the way we have chosen to tolerate a lifeless existence instead of walking in the newness of life everlasting. I am ashamed of the Church from time to time, but I am not ashamed of the Gospel of my Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes I am ashamed of the United States of America. I am ashamed of the fact that this nation which declares "In God We Trust" won't allow their children to pray in public school while other children are praying in schools in far away nations which only ten years ago declared "there is no God." I am ashamed of the way we celebrate the immoral and immortalize the celebrated. I am ashamed that we claim to be open-minded, but we've closed our minds to the teachings of Jesus. I am ashamed that we say everyone is entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," and yet we've prevented 35 million innocent lives from ever pursuing any of these ideals. I am ashamed that we lionize Dr. Krevorkian and lampoon Dr. Dobson. I am ashamed that we give our kids condoms, but keep them from Christ. I am ashamed that we have more than 20% of our children being born out of wedlock, more than 50% of our marriages ending in divorce, and 50 million of our citizens walking around with some type of sexually transmitted disease. I am ashamed that we search for answers to our problems in the minds of men rather than the heart of God. Sometimes I am ashamed of the United States of America, but I am not ashamed of the Gospel of my Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes I am ashamed of various aspects and elements of life, most of all my own life, but I never have been, nor will I ever be ashamed of the Gospel of my Lord Jesus Christ.

I have come to the conclusion that since we are fallible, sin-scared people, we will experience shame from time to time. There are things that we have done in our past that we do not want anyone to find out about. If the truth got out we would be covered with shame. There are things others have done to us or said about us that have caused us great shame in the past. Sometimes we are falsely accused of things we've not even done, but still, shower shame upon us. You only have to think back to this summer's past Olympics and remember the name of Richard Jewell to understand what I mean. The hero soon turned suspect by shoddy police work. I will never forget seeing his mother crying on television, asking people to please believe her that her son was not the horrible person he was painted to be.