“Unashamed” by Neville Buchanan

“Unashamed” by Neville Buchanan

How many of us can say we are unashamed at this very moment? Shame is a devastating emotion. It has the following effects on a Christian heart:

  1. It makes us want to run away from God. Like Jonah, we want to get as far away as possible from the “all-seeing” eyes of God.
  2. In anger, it causes us to blame instead of taking on responsibility. So, like Peter, we shamefully start cussing and denying Jesus. Or like an angry teenager, we run out of the room, slamming doors.
  3. It causes feelings of self-doubt and failure. Instead of reaching out for help we find a depressive cave (1 Kings 19). This causes us to fall even further behind.
  4. It kills. As the unresolved guilt builds up, we eventually hate the life we are living. Like Judas, it can result in suicide or mind-numbing addictions.

In 1 John (ESV) we are given a four-step solution to living an unashamed life.

  1. Make it your goal to live right with God. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Just Jesus! 1 Jn.1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
  2. Accept that you will never be perfect. 1 Jn.1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
  3. Instead of blaming we must confess (up to 490 times a day). 1 Jn.1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  4. Know Jesus will always have your back. 1Jn.2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Once you have applied the above antidote to shame, we must replace it with corrective action.

  1. Study the word of God, 2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV) Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ASHAMED, rightly handling the word of truth.
  2. Share the word of God, Romans 1:16 (ESV) For I am not ASHAMED of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

To be unashamed you must act unashamedly. So, who can you share the Gospel with right now?