“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes …” (Mark 8:38). Why would we be ashamed of Jesus, causing him to be ashamed of us? Note that he specifically refers to his words. What has Jesus said that we would be ashamed of talking about?

It is our responsibility to share our faith with others. In Mark 12 Jesus comments about the second commandment, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” (verse 31).

Surely we talk to our neighbours. Are they aware of our faith? We must not feel ashamed of what we believe. When Jesus rebuked Peter because he refused to believe that Jesus was going to be killed, he said, “you are not setting your mind on the things of God …” (verse 33).

Let us try harder to set our minds on the things of God. In doing so we will recall that even the Law God gave through Moses commands that “you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). This has been a command for all ages. What a different world it would be if that command was carried out! One day it will be – in God’s kingdom.

Let us be in training for God’s kingdom now. What better way to show our love for our neighbours than by encouraging them to believe in the words of Jesus. We must try to speak to them in the spirit of love, a desire to share something precious; the pearl of great price! This will be reflected in our behaviour as well as our words, for we communicate as much by what we do. We must seek wisdom from above as we try to do this.James wrote, “the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (3:17).