“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Heb. 13:5)
We who have been chosen by God are not like the rest of the human race, we have been sanctified, set apart for His glory. You must always remember, we did not, nor can we ever increase the glory of the Lord, in no respect does the Almighty need us for anything. Our responsibility, our desire and joy, is to glorify Him because He is worthy of all glory, honor and praise, and we do that not only in our own personal lives, but in front of all that we meet.
Satan has attempted to thwart the latter by suggesting that our personal walk with the Lord is more important than our outward one in front of the world, if we have hidden the Word of God in our hearts, that’s where he wants us to keep it. Sadly, this has been happening for quite some time now, and it is proven by the great apostacy that we find ourselves in. Many fear to speak His name openly, and for the most minor reasons.
“But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” (Heb. 11:16)
Let us then make it personal, shall we, very personal. If you were to look back over your life since you got up from your knees at the cross, honestly look at it, would you say that you have served the Almighty in the world, or has He been an embarrassment to you? Can you see the faces of those in the marketplace, at your place of employment, on the street or any other place that you spoke to those about the Lord Jesus Christ. Can you recall their reactions when you did so, or are the majority of your memories, of these so-called “chance encounters”, one of feelings of disparagement when you arrived back home because once again you told yourself that next time you would do better, next time you would speak of Him in public? “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 10:33)
I will not judge you in the area of salvation if you do not speak of Christ to others, but my own personal thoughts are that you are not saved if you do not do so, for those who have been born-again find it almost impossible not to speak of Him who gave all for us.
Why those who say they are saved but will not tell others about the way to salvation is a subject that is filled with excuses, but each of them leads us back to that one verse, the Lord Jesus Christ saying that He will not confess their names before His Father and the angels. I have pondered this at length over much time, and I do not see these people as saved, but as deceived, no one who is embarrassed on a personal level about the Savior is born-again, for they have shown by their actions that they do not serve Him, that they are more concerned with how those in the world view them than how the Lord looks at them. They have done worse than defame His Holy name by behaving inappropriately and being found out as David did in his sin with Bathsheba, they have denied Him altogether.
They do not even fulfill Matthew 15:8, “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.” For they will not even speak of Him.
The weather, the current events of the world, their aches and pains, even their joys and happiness, everything but the Lord Jesus Christ passes through their lips.
It is difficult to say how or why they are deceived, maybe they attend church on a regular basis, perhaps they read their Bible occasionally, got baptized on any other number of things, but they are deceived and are deceiving themselves. If you are not speaking to others of the One you say you serve, then it is doubtful that you are part of the family of God.
