Apparently tomorrow is "Not Ashamed Day".
I'm trying to work out whether I should be ashamed of that.
Not Ashamed is a website, declaration, logo, range of clothing and accessories and a host of other things, by which Christians can say that we are not ashamed of Jesus Christ. And quite rightly so. Jesus is very precious to us, and has given us more than we could ever describe, and we sincerely believe that he (and he alone) offers genuinely good news to all people and to the whole of creation.
But it seems that part of the purpose of the campaign is to make sure that Christians are not only not ashamed, but also not shamed. And this makes me uncomfortable.
When we as Christians are persecuted, mocked and marginalised, we are shamed. That is, other people are ashamed of us and of our Lord. And when we suffer such shame, we should rejoice, as our Lord clearly commanded us (Mt. 5:12 etc.), and as his apostles clearly demonstrated (Acts 5:41 etc.). That is what it means to take up our cross and follow the persecuted, mocked, marginalised and crucified Messiah.
Now, it is clear that those in the Not Ashamed campaign are most certainly not rejoicing when it seems that Christians are being marginalised in our country. Why not? Well, this could be because of a deep sadness that the country seems to be rejecting the good news of Jesus Christ. Or, alternatively, it could be because those in the campaign are, in fact, ashamed to suffer shame along with their crucified Lord. I can't tell which it is.
So let's not be ashamed. Not ashamed of the gospel (Rom. 1:16), and not ashamed to suffer shame for the sake of the gospel (2 Tim. 1:8,12,16; 1 Pet. 4:16).