A Happy Healthy Church: Devotions From Time of Grace MinistrySample

OUTREACH: BE PROUD OF GOD

Of all the things teenagers do that cause hurt to their parents, being ashamed of them in public is one of the worst. I did it to my parents, and my own kids have repeatedly done it to me. Even though I expect it and even understand it to some degree, it still hurts that they think my wife and me too old, too slow, and too out of it to be associated with.

I don't suppose God is too thrilled when the children he adopted by faith into his royal family, his royal priests, think themselves too cool to be identified with him in public. How that disdain must hurt his fatherly heart!

St. Paul had much to be ashamed of himself. In his earlier life he thought himself a great champion for God and his law. Later he discovered that he was a poseur and a fraud. He was actually at war with his Savior. His conversion experience changed forever how he viewed himself and the privilege of representing God wherever he went.

His changed philosophy: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16).

Can people tell that you're a Christian at your school? where you work? on your block?