100 Days with Jesus -- Proud to be a Christian!

Day 42


I have a friend that challenges me in positive ways. She reads the devotionals and often comments. Sometimes it’s in agreement and sometimes she questions my thoughts or remarks in a way that makes me dig a little deeper. She’s super smart and I appreciate so much how she manages to very subtly raise the bar for me and forces me to stand behind what I say. A friend does those things for us.

At some point in the devotionals I had commented that I was proud to be a Christian and she called me out on it! Why was I proud? So, I thought, geez Louise, am I wrong here? Why am I proud to be a Christian and is this an inappropriate response to salvation? We all grew up, whether Christian or not, with the Proverb 16:18 that says, paraphrased, Pride goes before a fall. I’ve heard it a hundred times from my grandmother. So, back to the original question, is it wrong to be proud to be a Christian? Am I supposed to be humbled and reserved because of my faith? Or should I prefer to be honored or respected? But isn’t that also pride too? This is getting difficult so I decided to dig down a little deeper.

As I look around our communities and throughout this country, I see organizations like the ACLU that’s pulling out all the stops in order to stop the spread of Christianity under the guise of separation of church and state. But what’s most appalling is that I see Christian people dropping their head as if we should be ashamed and a small minority is making decisions for everyone. I just read in the paper that a group of commissioners in a neighboring town are being sued by two women, backed by the ACLU, because they opened their meetings with prayer. It’s created quite a stir and many people are saying they should stop praying because of the price of the lawsuit. But was this about the price of not standing up for Christ and the power of prayer? Sorry, I digress a little here, but it goes back to pride. Here’s what I’ve realized. Pride in self is destructive. Scripture says it is. I’m not proud of myself. I usually embarrass myself almost every day and there’s hardly a day that goes by that I don’t wish I had done something a little different. I can make a mess out of the simplest things. But pride in our faith, in a God that loved us enough to sacrifice His only Son for us and holds the world in His hand is righteous pride! I’m proud to be part of the family of Christ and so very thankful that the Lord adopted me into the family. And I hope that I’m proud enough of my heavenly Father to stand up for Him when the occasion arises. Yep, I’m proud to be a Christian.

But I’m also proud of my true friends that know they can say what they want and we make each other better because of it.