Thoughts from Sunset

November 2, 2006

"Not Ashamed of the Gospel "

"I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is the power of God
for the salvation of everyone who believes"
~ Romans 1:16a (NIV)

Are you ashamed of the Gospel? Are you embarrassed by God's true message when it comes to sharing it with others? If you are a Christian, your response to those questions might be to be offended. Most likely you consider yourself as a defender of the Gospel and would never be ashamed of it. Before we discuss this point more, I'd like to share a few more verses from Romans.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
~ Romans 1:18-20 (NIV)

I hope after reading that passage we can see how crucial our commission to share the Gospel really is. How sad to think of the countless number of lost souls who might perish without hearing God's message. Although Christians are not the majority in the world today, there are far too many of us that any lost person should perish without the opportunity to hear the Gospel message. If we are to take our responsibility seriously, we should concern ourselves with sharing the true message that God wants spread! After all, people's eternal salvation is at stake.

So, back to the question of whether or not you are ashamed of the Gospel. Have you ever found yourself willing to compromise some of the "small things" in the Bible in an attempt to please other people. Sometimes, Christians think they need to "modernize" the topics and commands of the Bible or no one will listen to their message. This is unfortunate to say the least! The statement in Romans 1:16 should serve as a continual reminder for us to stand firm in our duty to speak and preach the word without altering it for any reason.