The other day I posted an item about hiding our faith.  Today I thought we might consider what happens when we hide from our faith…

Tom was a Christian.  He was committed; he was serious. He worked in a factory, and many of his coworkers were tough men, men who used rough language and who liked to drink and play hard…

Tom was afraid that if he didn’t go along with them that he wouldn’t fit in, that he wouldn’t be accepted.  He didn’t want them to think that he was soft or strange; he just wanted to be one of the guys.  So when he was at work he talked like the rest.  When to boys went out for a few brewskies on Thursday nights, Tom went along and behaved just the way everyone else did: He was one of the boys.

The boys liked to make fun of Christians… OK, the boys made fun of everybody, there wasn’t anything about making fun of Christians that was special; it wasn’t even intended to be anything more than fun, but it made Tom uncomfortable.  In time, the boys picked up on this, and one day someone asked him after several brews if he was a “churchie”.

Tom denied his faith. He didn’t really mean to, he just wanted to fit in.

A few days later when Tom was in his weekly Bible study, he learned something, something that he already knew.  Jesus had made an interesting comment one day when He told His listeners that if they confessed Jesus before men, He would confess them before the Father…

Tom felt convicted because he knew that he had denied Jesus before men; those men who were his friends.

Tom had not only hidden his faith, but he had also hidden from his faith…

Another passage ran through Tom’s mind that evening.  Jesus had told His disciples that the reason that people don’t follow Him was that they preferred the praise of men.