Romans 1:16-17
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.”
Wow. What a great message is contained just in here! This is the last of the ‘introduction’ to Paul’s letter to the Romans, and yet, I think we have gleaned plenty already!
For I am not ashamed! Paul is not ashamed why? Because it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…. This is the part I hinted at last time – are we ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I know at times I have been in some way – usually through pride or being too self conscious. I know for me – one of the biggest things in my life has been thinking ‘what will this person think of me if….’ NO! That is not the way we need to be – we need to be not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ – because it is this gospel that is the power of God to salvation! What will Jesus think of us? And really, what does it matter often what a person thinks of you?
If people don’t hear – they can’t know. If we don’t preach the message – who will? At the very least, if the opportunity arises for us to share our faith – it doesn’t need to be a well crafted message, a sermon to ten thousand, or handed out with a tract. It just needs to be an honest, from the heart, through the spirit sharing of what is appropriate at that time – that is all. As long as we are willing to do this, the rest will be follow. And truly, it is the Holy Spirit working in a person’s life that brings salvation – not us. We are not the Gospel – we are just called to share the Gospel!
I think that is well enough for one post! Tomorrow, we will look more into these verses, because there is much more we can glean from this small section…
Lord God, I pray for revelation through your Holy Spirit as we continue to study through your word. In Jesus Name. Amen.
[...] If you haven’t read Part 1 of this study, you can here. [...]