Abigail Duhon - I’m Not AshamedSample

I’m Not Ashamed

The film “I’m Not Ashamed” (PureFlix Entertainment) centers around the real life student named Rachel Scott, who attended Columbine High School in Colorado. Many know about her modern day martyrdom story and how she never denied her belief in God, even upon having a gun shoved to her head and giving her a chance to deny Him. The following is an excerpt from her diary approximately one year prior to her murder along with 11 other students and 1 teacher at the high school. 


She wrote, “ I lost all my friends at school, now that I’ve begun to ‘walk my talk,’ they make fun of me. I don’t even know what I have done. I don’t really have to say anything and they turn from me.”

She continued, “I have no more personal friends at school, But you know what? I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus. I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that’s fine with me. I always knew being a Christian is having enemies, but I never thought that my ‘friends’ were going to be those enemies."  

She added, “If I have to give up everything, I will.”  
Rachel was just 17 at the time of her death during what was considered to be one of the most tragic school shootings in modern times. What is remarkable, however, was that upon reading her journals, she recognized the risk attached to being bold about her faith in Jesus.


In the book of Acts, we read accounts of Peter, Paul and other disciples trying to share their faith in Jesus with their Jewish peers and leaders. But the leaders were angered that they would try to mention the name of Jesus in their community. The leaders witnessed the fact that the name of Jesus was a reason for miracles happening and many people’s lives changing.

Later in the book, Paul was also being arrested and challenged for speaking about Jesus. He even went all the way to the highest court in Rome to plead his right to talk about Jesus. 


In the time following Jesus' resurrection and ascension to heaven, the disciples and apostles faced a lot of hardship for believing in Jesus. You could say it was the same challenge people have today when they talk about their Christian beliefs in public and get bullied or made fun of because of it. 

Romans 1, verse 16 is a portion of a letter Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome. He said that he is not ashamed to talk about the Good News that Jesus is the Son of God and died for our sins on a cross and was raised from the dead on the third day. This is, of course, what sharing the gospel is all about.

When you are ashamed of something, you try to hide it from others, and sometimes ourselves. We can allow peer pressure or life’s circumstances to influence us to be ashamed of being a Christian. Only when we truly understand the power and freedom that comes from being bold in our faith in Christ will we be willing to be more open about it.