1 Peter 4:16 "However if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name."
We are called Christians. We bear the name of Christ when we become born again, receiving the Spirit of God, being adopted into the family of God, we are called Christians. Our name reflects the One whose likeness, whose qualities we desire. We are to desire to be Christ like, to develop our character like the character of Jesus. We want to walk in His footsteps, living and serving one another as He did, loving as He did, and following the will of our Father.
What happens when you run into a problem? What happens when you fail to live up to what YOU think you should be as a Christian, or what others think you should be. Does your head fall, do you hang your head in shame, do you believe all the bad press you hear about yourself? This can make you really begin to doubt our faith, doubt your Christian walk....sin is like that. We all fall short at times of the glory of our Lord. We all fail to measure up at times....but whose measure are we weighing in at? If we set a standard for ourselves, we will never measure up to it. We all tend to think we should be so perfect to receive the love and blessings of the Lord. We try, I believe, to set our standard to what anothers standard is, or what someone else thinks our standard should be. There is a standard set by God for everyone that bears the Name of our King. His standard is "Love the Lord with all your heart, and love no one above Him" and Love your neighbor as yourself". That is the standard. If you truly love the Lord with all your heart, should you sin, should you fail in your walk, forgiveness is there for a repetitive heart. The Lord does not ask more than we can give, and we all can give Him the love of our hearts. We can love our neighbor with the love of the Lord. He gives grace and more grace to meet the needs we have to love each other. When you truly love the Lord, you are not going to intentionally go out and sin, your thoughts will not be on sin but on living for the Lord. And when we do fail, our God is there, to reach down and lift up our heads, tell us He loves us.....see, the Lord is rooting for us, He is pulling for us, giving us encouragement to fight the good fight, to win the race. Jesus knows what we face on earth, He knows it is a hard road to walk and He is there telling the Father what we face. When our hearts show the love we have for Him, when our spirits are remorseful when we sin, when we fail, it is that very heart that draws the Lord's forgiveness. Our shame is not in the sin that we have forgiveness for, the shame will be in the way we feel about the Name we bear. If, when we sin, we ask forgiveness, put our head up high, yes, that is the Lords hand you feel under your chin lifting it up; but lift your head and let all see the glory shine that is on your face, proud to be a Christian, not perfect, but each day, striving to be more like Jesus.
Father, I love that I bear the Name of my King. I love that You have given me the name of Christian. I ask, Holy Spirit, that You draw me close to my Lord, that I can live within the standards set for me by my Father, my Lord, and You and not the standards I would have set on me by the world. The enemy tries to tell me that I should be what everyone expects, what everyone else is, but I know I am only to be what You would have me to be. You have set my course, You have set the standards for me and I will walk in it. Nothing can come between me and You, my Lord; I know You have me in Your hands. I know you love me. I proudly bear the Name of my King, Jesus Christ. I know I am who You would have me be.
03-20-12
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