Sunday 20 January 2019

Ashamed of the gospel?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” – Romans 1.16-17

I don’t think there can be any doubt of the first part of this passage. Paul lived out “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ’ all of his life from the time he first got saved in the road to Damascus. Everything about him proved the veracity of his claim. He proclaimed the gospel before kings and governors and jailers. When in Athens he proclaimed the gospel in the streets and the markets and with the thinkers and philosophers. He preached in the synagogues. He felt like he hd to go to Rome and was working on getting there. He would preach the gospel any time in any place to anybody.


I have to ask myself the question – ‘am I ashamed of the gospel?’ Am I reticent about sharing because I don’t really feel like the gospel is relevant or important or that it might just sound unbelievable?

Paul was not ashamed because he knew that the gospel was the power of God that leads to salvation. He had seen the power at work, and I think that the key is that he had seen the power of God work in his own life. He knew what God had done in him and he knew that if the power of God could work in his life it would work in anyone’s life.

I may not know a lot about theology or how soteriology works or fully grasp all the aspects of what happens at salvation. I do know though what the power of God did and does in my life. How can I be ashamed when I know what the gospel did for me. How can I not be willing and eager to share it with others?

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