Goosebumps. Every time the opening paragraph of Hebrews is read, I feel them.
Recently, I’ve been going over Hebrews 11:8-16 for my sermon next week on Psalm 139; I’m connecting the two, continuing a series on “Rainbows.” These rainbows take an OT passage and a NT passage and connect them with various scriptures to give us insight. Not my own, thankfully. God has been merciful to this toad of a man.
Anyway, in reference to Hebrews 11, there is a portion that brings me nearly to tears every time I read it: “Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God…”
Every time, I crumble. What a powerful statement. We read that Paul is not ashamed of the Gospel and look to emulate him, but in the book of Hebrews we find this uplifting, satisfying, comforting statement: He is not ashamed to be called our God.
How often have we gone about bragging that we are not ashamed of God? How much heavier is the truth that He is not ashamed of us? I beg you, random internet visitor, please chew on that for a moment: how much more weight does that statement hold? How much more important is it that He is not ashamed of us than we of Him?
The God of Heaven, the creator of the earth, He who hung the stars, is not ashamed to be the God of His people. I’m not certain what life accomplishments you’ve had, but mine are not significant. I make little money, I don’t have an inordinately high number of friends, not a lot of people seek my wisdom, and I could go on: me, little me, who has created a couple of iPhone games but never hung a star in the sky… He is not ashamed to be my God. He is not ashamed of my worship. He is not ashamed of my praise.
What a place to be. I look forward to speaking to my people about it.