So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God . . . (2 Timothy 1:8)
Many of our Cornerstone family work in places where the majority of people around you are not Christians. Some of them are anti-Christian, perhaps even violently so, so there may be times when you feel ashamed that you are a Christian. You are afraid people will find out; or, if they already know that you are a Christian, you tend to keep it quiet and not say much about it. That is a nearly universal experience for Christians who have any contact at all with non-Christians; and that is the problem the writer of Timothy takes up now with Timothy, his son in the faith, ministering in the great, pagan city of Ephesus.
I think Timothy was tempted, at least, to be ashamed of the Lord because Jesus is invisible. You have probably felt ashamed because of that too. To talk about a Lord who is the most important being in your life and yet not be able to show Him to people or allow them to hear Him, to maintain that a man who lived two thousand years ago is still alive today in a vital relationship with you, is to expose yourself to the ridicule and incredulity of many. Timothy felt that way too.
We have talked about the “grace to finish well”. Sometimes that means have courage in situation that we normally don’t feel comfortable with. I encourage you all to have courage and don’t be ashamed to testify to the people around you, or what the Lord has done.
Travis