Jesus is Who we Follow

The older brother, Freddie (who is 8), nudged his younger brother, Emmett (who is 5 ), and said, “why don’t you tell Grammie?” All of a sudden Emmett’s face went bright red and he looked angrily at Freddie. His eyes turned to mine, and you could see his mind going back and forth trying to decide if he should share the news. I waited patiently for him to make his choice.

All of a sudden, he blurted out, “I have a girlfriend.” I smiled and said, “that’s nice.” It was beautiful to watch his face change from being a bright red beetroot to his normal complexion and his body change from tense to relaxed muscles. I then asked him, “Is she in your class? What is her name?” He was so excited to share with me.

The question was posed to him by his mother, “so are you going to get married?”

“Eventually” was his answer, “we are just friends.”

‘Great answer little man,’ I thought.

Thinking over the discussion later I thought how cute early friendship and love is. That Emmett, because of his big brother teasing him, was embarrassed but once he could see that I was just interested, that I cared about what he was sharing and was not judgemental, that embarrassment dissolved away. There was no shame.

Just a beautiful story of very young love and affection, of blossoming friendship…….

Emmett’s embarrassment had disappeared and was replaced by a cute little smile of joy.

There are many times in life when people, even our own family, tease us and we get embarrassed, hurt, ostracised by what they say, what they think about us and our opinions.  Sometimes their opinion can make us feel shameful and want to hide.

As a Christian there are many situations at work, socially, where to voice our opinion, our stance on life’s questions we would be ridiculed. It is hurtful and often we don’t feel strong enough to stand up against the tide of the “Going Opinion”. We can often feel we are all alone. But we know deep in our hearts that this is the way to live. That Jesus is who we follow.

In 1 Peter 4:16 we are encouraged to not feel like we live in disgrace but that we are glorifying God when we live this way.

Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.

1 Peter 4:16 NRSV

And in both 1 Peter 2:6 and Romans 10:11 it says…

… whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

1 Peter 2:6 NRSV

So, if you love Jesus and have a relationship with Him, share with people who will understand and listen, and for those who don’t, don’t stop sharing if the opportunity arises but that is not where you are going to get support and encouragement to live the life you have chosen. We do not ever have to have beetroot faces because of our beliefs. If we are wrong Jesus will show us, if our hearts are open to truth and change.

Pray for all your family and friends that they seek after truth and are willing to change. Jesus who loves us and all mankind will continue to chase after us and after others with His Love and Gift of Eternal Life.

May these jottings from my journal inspire you to believe in and fall in love with Christ- the hope of the world, as stated in Jeremiah 17:7, ‘Blessed is the man who believes and trusts in and relies on the Lord and whose hope and confident expectation is the Lord!’

Love

Rosemary

Every week groups of ladies meet together to chat about the things I raise in my weekly blog post and to chat about life in general. We call these ‘Heart Connect’ groups. If you would like more information please click HERE.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

When are the times in your life that you have felt embarrassed about your beliefs? What did you do at the time?

Have you been able to share with other Christians in your life about how you felt at those times? If so, what did they say?

After some reflection, how would you act differently in those situations where you have voiced your beliefs?

Are you able to encourage others to keep following Jesus when they feel embarrassed? If not, what could you do to be an encouragement to others?