They’re called skeletons in the closet. Things that you’re ashamed of. Things you no more want people to know about you than a spy wants to be found out. Things you do everything you can to keep as secret as the password to your retirement account.
The writer of Hebrews tells you something astounding about yourself. He tells you that Jesus doesn’t see you as a skeleton in his closet.
That’s what he’s saying in Hebrews 2:10. That verse tells us Jesus isn’t ashamed of us. Brother in Christ, sister in the Lord, Jesus isn’t ashamed of you. Jesus doesn’t see you as a skeleton in his closet.
Thank God Jesus is not Ashamed of Us
I’m sometimes ashamed of myself. I think, say, and do things that make me seasick nauseous. I know on one occasion someone dear to me was ashamed of me because of my Christian testimony. And even though the shame was gospel-caused, it hurt like a wasp sting.
The hot sun of knowing someone’s ashamed of you curdles the spirit, doesn’t it? It’s a ghost that drags its chains and haunts in dark nights of insomnia.
Thank God Jesus is not ashamed of us. Think of this. The most important Person who’s ever lived; the only opinion of us that really counts, and he tells us he isn’t ashamed of us!
What makes this awesome is he knows us thoroughly. My friend, you’re an open book to him. He has searched you and known you better than a bus driver knows a route he’s driven for forty years and a wife knows the husband she’s lived with for half a century. Jesus knows everything you’ve ever thought. Jesus knows everything you’ve ever said. Jesus knows everything you’ve ever done. You’ve lived your entire existence in the broad daylight of his complete, exhaustive, detailed, pervasive knowledge. He knows your failures, foolishnesses, faults, ficklenesses, and sometimes faithlessness. Yet he isn’t ashamed of you.
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What Does It Mean?
What does it mean for Jesus to be unashamed of you? It means the following four exhilarating realities:
1. For Jesus to be unashamed of you means he doesn’t regret getting involved in your life.
He doesn’t feel about you the way a wife feels about the husband she thought was going to be Prince Charming but is Count Dracula. He’s not sorry he’s invested himself in you.
2. For Jesus to be unashamed of you means he isn’t looking for a way to get out of the grace contract he’s made with you.
The famous comedian W. C. Fields didn’t believe in any religion. So a friend was once surprised to see him reading a bible. He asked Fields, “What’re you doing?” “Looking for loopholes” was the answer. Jesus isn’t looking for loopholes in his relationship with you. He’s not trying to find a way to ditch you.
3. For Jesus to be unashamed of you means he is willing to use in spite of your faults and flaws.
The Great Physician can perform matchless surgery with a broken scalpel. He can win Super Bowls with Bad News Bears inept players. He’s willing to work through you as he worked through lying Abraham, scandalous David, angry Jonah, and cowardly Peter. Jesus doesn’t use perfect people. He uses people he’s perfecting.
4. For Jesus to be unashamed of you means that he always sees you as the person you are in him.
He is not ashamed to call us brethren. Jesus sees you as kin. He sees you as his brother or sister, as someone loved by his Father, as someone forgiven and accepted by his Father, as someone to whom the Father is determined to get glory from by giving grace to. So, even though you may sometimes displease Jesus he is always ready to forgive you, always willing to give you a fresh start, always out to show you his ability to turn your self-made messes into God-glorifying wonders.
In Spite of Our Many Flaws
Chuck Colson was the White House counsel for President Richard Nixon. As you know, Nixon resigned the Presidency in the Watergate Scandal. During this time Colson became a Christian. He began sharing his faith in many places. Once he was speaking on a college campus. When the Q&A time came, a student asked him, “Why did you support Richard Nixon even after the Watergate scandal?” Colson said, “Because he was my friend.”
Chuck Colson wasn’t ashamed of Richard Nixon in spite of Nixon’s many flaws.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed of you in spite of your many flaws.
Jesus doesn’t see you as a skeleton in his closet. If this doesn’t cause you to live as a Grace-Focused Optimist, I don’t know what will.
