March 17
“I have waited for Your salvation, O Lord,” Genesis 49:18.
Jacob, the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham, was nearing his dying day. He arranged for a final family gathering. He invited his 12 sons to gather for a special meeting. He had something important to say to each one of them. He did not call them together to tell each of them what they were going to inherit. He had a special spiritual message that was specific and personal and different for each one.
Today, people talk a lot about family gatherings. Maybe it is for one of the coming holidays. For a holiday gathering, there is a need for a lot of planning, especially if we are involved with a large family. And when we get together, what is there to talk about? Many times, the talk is about family matters, how or what each one is doing, how things are going at work or in school. So often, the conversations center around material things, how things are going in the world, what is happening to the economy or what is being done by people in government and politics.
Recently, I was speaking with an automobile salesman who had taken a new job. He told me that the owner and his boss told him that when dealing with a prospective customer, there are two things that should never be mentioned – politics and religion! There might be a lot of people who would agree with that position. Would God agree? Think of how often God directed His prophets and people to commend or take issue with things that were said and done by people in government and business. Would your Lord and Savior agree that you should never discuss your religious beliefs and your Christian faith? Hear His Word: “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven,” Matthew 10:32-33. Again, the Savior said, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels,” Mark 8:34-38.
If you really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only Savior from sin, death, and hell, that He suffered and died on Calvary’s cross to pay the price for your salvation, and then rose from the grave to conquer death and the devil – I repeat, if you really believe this, then you cannot keep quiet. He is also the Savior for all others throughout the whole world!
Jacob spoke of his faith to his sons: “I have waited for Your salvation, O Lord!” Let us follow his example in our family circles, at our places of work, and wherever we come into contact with others!
Jesus! And shall it ever be. A mortal man ashamed of Thee?
Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise, whose glories shine through endless days?
Ashamed of Jesus, that dear Friend, on whom my hopes of heav’n depend?
No; when I blush, be this my shame, that I no more revere His name.
Ashamed of Jesus? Yes, I may, when I’ve no guilt to wash away,
No tear to wipe, no good to crave, no fear to quell, no soul to save.
Till then – nor is my boasting vain – till then, I boast a Savior slain;
And oh, may this my glory be, that Christ is not ashamed of me! Amen.