Ever Feel Ashamed of Admitting You Pray and Follow Jesus?

"If the world hates you, remember that the world hated me before you. This would not be so if you belonged to the world, because the world loves its own. But you are not of the world since I have chosen you from the world; because of this the world hates you." - John 16:18-19

I find it really interesting how I can tell someone that this weekend I got really wasted and hooked up with some random person at a club and then didn't even remember any of it. They would probably be like, "haha, awesome!" But if instead I said, "I spent the weekend praying. I went to church, prayed the rosary and spent time with Jesus who loves me and also loves you," that person will most likely make a face and give me a dry "oh…cool," and then think I'm out of my mind.

This is what Jesus meant when He said that the world hates us. By the world He meant those that don't believe in Him or those that refuse to believe and live according to their own desires. But we are of God. We were chosen and have chosen to live according to His will, therefore our actions must be different and for that we will be made fun of and mocked. Whether you see it or not, Satan will incite those in the world to hate us, to try to bring us down and make us believe that we're losing out by following God. There are more people that will knock us down because we don't want to follow the pleasures of the flesh (drugs, sex, alcohol) instead of encouraging us to follow the faith. It's part of our nature to want to be cool, to want to be liked, and our hope in God can die so easily by having others make fun of us for admitting we want to pray and go to church and follow the commandments. So many of us feel ashamed to even admit we really love Jesus. Sometimes, even I'm embarrassed on the train to pray and make the sign of the cross in front of others, but in Luke 9:26, Jesus says, "If someone feels ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in His glory and in the glory of His Father with His holy angels."

So, you know what? I don't care what people think about me, even if they want to think I'm crazy or a hypocrite. I don't care if anyone thinks I'm boring because I'd rather spend a Saturday night at home praying to my Lord instead of being out in a club. I love the Lord, my God, no matter who tries to put me down, and I will not be embarrassed or ashamed of the fact that I know He has called me and I pray that you act each and every day with the same conviction to proclaim that the Lord, our God, is your savior!

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, forgive me for the times I have ignored You out of embarrassment. I choose today to let others know of my love for You no matter if they mock me or put me down. You have given me more joy than anything else. Help me to stay firm day after day. In Your Name we pray, Amen.