I confess that for years, I felt a sharp pang of guilt every time I heard a reference to Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes."
I hated the reality, but if I was going to be honest, I had to admit that I couldn't notice that verse without feeling like a hypocrite. Recently, I was pondering that verse and praying, yet again, apologetically.
"Father, I don't want to be ashamed of the gospel..."
The gospel...the gospel...
As I mulled over the gospel, I focused on what the gospel is essentially: Holy God created me; I am a sinner in need of forgiveness; God provided that forgiveness through Christ's death; I recognize that it is only through His efforts that I can be right with Him; I'm now adopted into His family and He helps me to live my life in a way that honors Him, yet His love for me is not based on my own works.
That's when the glorious epiphany hit me: I'm not ashamed of THAT! I'm not ashamed of what Christ did nor am I ashamed of my desperate need for Him. I'm deeply thankful for His sacrifice. I'm anchored and maintained by the preciousness of it.
What I AM ashamed of is:
1) How some people present the gospel
2) The behavior of some people who are associated with the gospel
3) Myself and my own feelings of inadequacy at proclaiming the gospel
I was mistaking my shame over those things for shame over the gospel. The joy I felt at this realization was so genuine. I'm still smiling...
3 comments:
Great points! I might have to steal this one down the road some time...
Awesome post.
Blessings,
F.S.
Feel free to cut and paste, Frank. I'm glad my thoughts resonated with you and perhaps with others.
I, too, recently had occasion to ask myself, "What do I think the Gospel is?" I may be wrong in some aspects since I'm still learning, but this is what I wrote out as my definition:
God, the only entity with value, loves me and everyone else. He calls me to humbly use my free will to serve him in his kingdom of the Spirit. He sent his only offspring, Jesus, to demonstrate to us thick-headed humans how to serve. Part of Jesus' demonstration required that he die physically and resurrect physically so our thick minds could get the message that our "self" must die and resurrect in the spirit, taking on the mind of Christ. It is critical to our eternal well-being to be born of the spirit because that is the only way we can even be eligible for spending eternity with God. Our salvation lies in turning away from our own sinful natures and becoming more and more Christ-like in our thinking and our actions.
Like you, I am ashamed that I am shy about sharing the gospel with others. I pray that God pushes me more to do so.
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