Today, community friends, we don’t need to be suffering from an identity crisis.
We don’t need to be who we are some of the time. We can’t change like the weather. Today’s message challenges us to “be who we are.”
Writer David McCasland said, “While awaiting a routine medical procedure in a local hospital, I noticed a wall plaque showing Christ on the cross. Later a nurse asked me several questions, ‘Do you have any spiritual needs you’d like to discuss with a chaplain?’ In today’s world, I said I appreciated her asking that question. She replied with a smile that they are a faith-based hospital and ‘that’s a part of our mission.’”
David said, “I was impressed that the people was not afraid to be who they are in a worldly society.”
That’s the way we ought to be. In the book of 1 Peter, he urged the first century believers who had been scattered by persecution, from a hostile world, to count it a blessing to suffer for doing what is right.
The truth of the matter is when you do what is right, you will suffer. You won’t have many friends, may not be invited to social gatherings, be liked by everybody and popular.
Friends this morning it’s time to be transparent before God and the world. It’s time for us to be a bold witness as to who we are in this world.
We don’t change no matter where we go or where we are. For somebody reading this morning knows that this world is not our home; that we are pilgrims and strangers here.
This means we are only here for a short time; we have to be who we are and cannot change for nothing or nobody.
In the animal kingdom, when you notice animals, you notice that they do not change. They don’t have personalities. In the country or Uptown, an animal is the same way all the time.
There is a lesson in this; animals don’t have common sense but animals through nature do not change.
A dog is going to be a dog any day of the week and its nature teaches it that it’s a dog. The dog wouldn’t know how to act any other way.
A skunk is going to be a skunk in the woods or in the city limits because that’s what it is. If it feels threatened, it will stink up any place that it’s in. The skunk doesn’t know anything about perfume or pretending to be a poodle.
A goat will be a goat, a shark will be shark and a snake will be a snake. Regardless to the weather, sunshine or rain these animals will be what they are.
I’m a born again Christian and many of you profess to be the same thing.
When we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we took on his personality. Christianity is who we are and we are to be Christians everywhere we go.
Our behavior is to be of such that it reflects the savior that we serve. We are to be ready to speak a word of the hope with anybody that we come in contact with.
That personality and love should show every day of the week.
Community, we are to put our best foot forward whether we are in or out of the church.
Let us “be who we are.”
Don’t change for anybody, even if it means suffering, walking alone, being talked about or labeled the black sheep.
We cannot blend in with the world but we are to stand out because darkness and light cannot co-exist.
Readers, we are living in a world where sin is rampant and hostile to Christianity.
We are in a time when some want us to keep Christianity in the closet and out of everything.
Some don’t want Him in the schools, the state buildings or in the government.
The way some Christians act, they don’t want Him in the church. We are living in a time where the only time some want to hear about God is when they need Him or in the time of a crisis.
If we are not careful, Satan will frustrate us and muzzle our mouth.
Some Christians don’t want to suffer for their faith. They don’t want certain people to stop speaking to them or give them the cold shoulder by co-workers and family members.
Community, we cannot compromise our testimony just to get along with somebody. Be who you are.
I want to encourage all of you today to be a bold soldier for the Lord. If you suffer, understand it is better to suffer for doing right than it is to suffer for doing wrong.
Peter said in 1 Peter 3:14, “When you suffer for righteousness sake be happy.”
Remember, it was Jesus who suffered for us on the cross that brought us to God.
Community, it ought to be a privilege to suffer for Him. Christians, we are soldiers of the cross. “Be who you are.”
The Rev. George Ellis is pastor at Union Grove Missionary Church.
