Week 2 - Thursday

For I Am Not Ashamed

For I am not ashamed of the gospel .... (Romans 1:16a)

The message of the gospel has always been a stumbling block for the Jews and foolishness to most of the rest of the people of the world. A person's natural tendency is to reject the gospel message. One of the main reasons why people reject it is because of their pride. Believing the gospel, requires that a person let go of three things they often are proud of. The first is their own self-righteousness. People like to think that they are okay just the way they are. They like to think they are basically good. If a person is going to receive Jesus Christ, they need to admit that they are a sinner and then come to Christ seeking forgiveness. Another thing people are often proud of is their own intelligence. Many people have a hard time believing, that in order for them to be saved from their sins, they need to put their faith in a man who died on a cross almost 2,000 years ago. To them it seems ridiculous and it insults their intelligence. But that is exactly what God says we must do. A person's intelligence doesn't help them get saved. In fact it often gets in the way. The gospel wasn't designed by God so that only smart people could understand it. God designed the gospel so that even simple minds could believe and be saved. This gives all the credit in salvation to God, which is right where it belongs. A third thing that people are proud of is their independence. Most people like to think of themselves as self-reliant and emotionally stable. A lot of people think that those who are serious about religion are using it as a crutch. They see them as weak souls who have gone off the deep end because of their inability to deal with the real issues of life. The person who has it all together doesn't need that though. They would be embarrassed or ashamed to have other people think that they were sinful, or foolish, or weak-willed.

It is a serious sin to be ashamed of the gospel. For the unbeliever, it results in their being condemned by God because they would not come to Jesus to be saved. But even Christians are often guilty of this sin. How many times have we failed to tell others about the gospel, when we have had an opportunity to do so, because we didn't want people to think we were strange. When we do speak up, we usually avoid saying anything negative. We know that many people can be offended by the gospel's convicting message and we want them to like us. The apostle Paul was not ashamed though. He faced constant persecution for his bold proclamation of the truth. Take this opportunity now to confess to the Lord your past failures to speak for Him. Commit yourself to be more faithful to do so in the future. If you are not ashamed of the gospel, then that means you must be proud of it. Let the words you speak give evidence of that.

Readings for today: 1 Cor. 1:18-31; Mark 8:38; 2 Cor. 5:18-20; 2 Tim. 1:7-12