I am not Ashamed!

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17

I still remember the first time I read that verse.  I felt like charging hell with a glass of ice water.  I still get a little charged when I read it; I love the boldness of the first part of verse 16, “For I am not ashamed”.  I am not ashamed, me, this is who I am, this is what I believe, this is a part of me no matter who confronts me or how people hate me.  “The gospel of Christ” is my life.  Why? “For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes”.  It IS the power of God!  People ask where God is, but God is in the gospel of Christ.  The problem is, that is not where people want God to be.  They want Him somewhere else.  Somewhere a little neater and more conformed to their life.  But God is in the gospel message, He is in Christ, but more so, His power is in the gospel message!  Do I want to walk in God’s power?  Then I need to walk in the gospel of Christ!  The gospel of Christ is “salvation to everyone who believes”.  If I want to walk in the power of God then I need to intentionally walk for everyone to believe in Jesus as Christ.

“The righteousness of God is revealed from faith.”  Do I understand the significance of that?  God reveals His righteousness from my faith to the faith of others.  Are we able to mentally process the idea of God being contained within us and His power ready for our use and others ready to believe (the fields are ripe)?   The only thing needed is for us to embody in mind and walk the message of Jesus and for us to demonstrate our faith in Him in all things.  His power is ready to go forth and He is ready to save.  Will we be a focused and steadfast worker (but the laborers are few)? 

The reference at the end of verse 17 is to Habakkuk 2:4 which says, “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” (NKJV) Or “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright – but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.” (NIV).  There is a direct contrast written here between those who are proud and those who are righteous.  It says here that a proud person has a tilted soul and does not live by faith.  Their desires are tilted, they do not seek what is right.  Because they are sufficient, they do not live by faith. 

“The just shall live by faith.”  They do not live dependent upon themselves.  They are not God.  They live completely and totally on their faith in their salvation through Jesus their Christ which is the power of God. 

Everything comes back to faith.  Do I have it?  Is there a shadow of doubt?  “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of (doubt), I shall fear no evil, for You are with me.”  Is my faith that strong?  Is my faith the strongest part of me and within me?  Does the faith within me trump even me?  Am I molded under my faith or is my faith molded under me?  “I am not ashamed!”  May I walk confidently and be careful to know that I am defined by my faith and my faith is not defined by me.  The proud define their “faith” and it is tilted, but the righteous have faith defined by God.