“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16–17, KJV 1900)
In the Fall of 1968, as a senior in high school, I met the first girl I ever dated. One Friday evening we decided to go over to my house after our date. So, we were in the living room and my mom and dad were in the den watching TV. Then something happened that I hoped was just a bad dream. He decided to come out and see us. My dad had this strange habit of going into the den and taking off his shirt, socks and shoes. Groggy from just waking he staggered out with his hair standing on end, no shirt and barefoot with his socks wedged between his big and middle toes, one on each foot. I first pinched myself hoping it was a bad dream, but it wasn’t. I tried to recover by introducing her to my dad. It was one of my most embarrassing moments. I can’t say I was ashamed of my dad, but I did feel ashamed that my girlfriend had to see this spectacle. I never spoke of this incident again until my mom brought it up decades later.
We all have moments of shame in our lives, things mostly from the past. There also may be things that we are ashamed of in the present. These things we generally try to hide from others. If we were not ashamed of these things, we would not try to hide them but on the contrary, we would talk about them. Paul wrote to the Romans that he was not ashamed of the gospel, which led him to tell others the good news.
The gospel had so powerfully changed Paul’s life, that it propelled him to preach it unashamedly. Even with opposition to his message, he realized that the only hope was Jesus. He knew that as the power of the gospel delivered him, it would deliver others also. I wonder if our lives demonstrate that we are not ashamed of the gospel. For if we are not ashamed, would we not make it known to others?
Too often, we are timid, fearful of people not liking or appreciating us. We might seem ashamed of the gospel. Paul was never like this. Perhaps we should look back at our own conversion and think about how much Christ has done for us. If we do, we should be emboldened just like Paul to make the power of the gospel known to those we meet.
Renewing the Heart 