Part 2: Not Ashamed?

If you take Jesus seriously enough to take the torch of the Gospel into the world, you will face some kind of opposition. When that happens you may be tempted to water down the Gospel or distance yourself from Jesus or His people. We do this to avoid feeling shame - the disapproval of others. Timothy would certainly face the possibility of shame and other suffering for standing firm with the death row prisoner Paul, and the message that people are saved by a man who was executed on a cross. In some of his last words recorded, Paul gives Timothy and us a clear reason why we should never feel ashamed of Jesus.