{"id":4870,"date":"2012-04-05T01:00:40","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T09:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=4870"},"modified":"2012-04-05T01:34:45","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T09:34:45","slug":"truly-unashamed-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2012\/04\/05\/truly-unashamed-of-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Truly Unashamed of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Roger Alcaraz<\/em><\/p>\n

In my last article<\/a>, I shared about my time in seminary and the different trials God brought me through. I closed abruptly by mentioning that the article is connected to this year\u2019s theme for the youth: “Unashamed of Christ.” Most people hear that phrase and think of someone boldly announcing the gospel, or Romans 1:15-16 where Paul says, \u201cI am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.\u201d He continues by giving the details of the gospel, how everyone is a sinner but that God saved us through sending Christ to die for us.<\/p>\n

Proclaiming the gospel is certainly one of the signs of an unashamed Christian, but as I was working at McDonald\u2019s, a recurring conversation brought to mind a different aspect of being unashamed. By the time I was working there, I had already graduated and so had all my Physics classmates. Most of them ended up attending UCSD graduate school or found a job nearby, which meant they would be stopping by McDonald\u2019s for a quick meal (probably chicken nuggets). As they would come in, they would spot me in my blue uniform and hat and I would take their order. Eventually, they would always ask, \u201cDid we have class together?\u201d My response would always be the same run-on sentence: \u201cYeah\u2026I actually graduated and will be going to school in LA soon so I needed a job to keep me in San Diego and I interviewed at a bunch of places but they didn\u2019t seem to believe me that I could live and work in San Diego while attending school two days a week so none of them hired me except for McDonald\u2019s but this place isn\u2019t so bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okay, that wasn\u2019t exactly<\/em> what I would say, but the point is that I would always put up a defense for why I\u2019m in that situation. Yet I would never mention my savior Jesus Christ and the hope I have in him. If there were no hope in his return or the everlasting life he gives, I would be attending seminary, driving back and forth from LA, working a low-end job, postponing my wedding, and serving the youth for nothing<\/em>! I was convicted when a professor taught on 1 Peter 3:14-15 which says, \u201cEven if you should suffer<\/em> for righteousness\u2019 sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope<\/em> that is in you\u201d (emphasis added). He pointed out that these verses have nothing to do with debating atheists and answering the question, \u201cWhat proof do you have in God?\u201d but it has everything to do with responding to trials and answering the question, \u201cWhy do you willingly suffer as you do?\u201d Paul tells us how we should answer: by honoring Christ the Lord as holy, meaning He is the reason we are willing to endure hardship.<\/p>\n

I was certainly prepared to make a defense for why I was working at McDonald\u2019s but it did not present the hope I had in Christ, which meant I was ashamed of my circumstances and therefore ashamed of God, who placed me in them. While reading 2 Timothy 1:8 which says, \u201cDo not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,\u201d I thought about how Paul would answer people who ask about why he\u2019s in prison. Paul actually answers this by verse 11 where he writes, \u201cI was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed\u2026\u201d Why was Paul not ashamed? He continues, \u201c\u2026for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Therefore, being unashamed of Christ is more than having a loud voice. It means rejoicing in the trials appointed by God and not making excuses for why you suffer. I made it a point from then on to answer anyone who asked why I endure hardships by expressing my love for Jesus and the hope I have in Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Roger Alcaraz In my last article, I shared about my time in seminary and the different trials God brought me through. I closed abruptly by mentioning that the article is connected to this year\u2019s theme for the youth: “Unashamed of Christ.” Most people hear that phrase and think of someone boldly announcing the gospel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-affinity-groups","category-youth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4870"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4903,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4870\/revisions\/4903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}