Unashamed

 Romans 1:16 ESV

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.


Shame is a powerful emotion that can cripple us. Crucifixion was a shameful thing. Yet the cross of Christ can powerfully liberate us from guilt and shame.

The Gospel has always been counterintuitive. That a Man dying as a common criminal can be good news doesn't seem to make sense. Yet that's the means God has chosen to set us free.

Crucifixion seems the epitome of weakness: dying naked and alone on a Roman cross. Yet God could turn it into the immeasurably powerful means of our salvation. God turned something hateful- execution on a cross- into the ultimate demonstration of love.

The Apostle Paul wasn't being racist by saying salvation came to the Jews first. He's just stating a fact. Jesus is Jewish, and came initially to the Jewish people, before sending his people out to the world to make him known.

'God, forbid that we would be ashamed of the gospel. Please help us to make you known to the world, for your glory we pray, amen'.

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