ROMANS 1:16

“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 and condemnation are methods the devil uses to try to discourage and discredit us. You’re not worthy! Look at all the bad stuff you’ve done. God can’t forgive you! Those are just a few of the things he might say. Shame has no place in the life of the believer, either shame dumped on us by others (or the devil) or shame we put on ourselves. Paul talks about another kind of shame, however, in today’s verse. Let’s see what he says.

Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” Why in the world would he say that? Well, just think about his life. He had been a Pharisee, a keeper of the law. Now he is proclaiming salvation in Jesus alone. All those Jewish leaders he knew were shaming him, even attacking him. They probably said he had lost it, had gone crazy and was even denying his faith. Shame, shame, shame! But Paul was brave and courageous and refused that shame. He was speaking the truth and seeing lives changed.

APPLICATION

The word for “ashamed” is used eleven times in the New Testament. Six of those times it is used in the negative as to “not be ashamed” as it is here in today’s verse. But in Mark 8:38 (and the parallel verses in Luke 9:26) Jesus warns us of being ashamed of Him or His words. “‘For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’” Now, who wants to face that? I sure don’t. I want to hear those precious words, Well done, my good and faithful servant.

Paul tells Timothy to “not be ashamed” in 2 Timothy 1:8. “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,…” And he says he is not ashamed in verse 12 of the same chapter. “For this reason I also suffer these things; but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to protect what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” There’s a little song that goes with that verse. Remember it – “For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able,…”

Paul praises a believer named Onesiphorus 2 Timothy 1:16-18 for not being ashamed. “16 The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me— 18 the Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day—and you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus.” Don’t you want to hear those words said about you? Live unashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Live so that you will not be ashamed at His coming!

Lord, I am not ashamed of being called Your child and of placing my faith in You. You are my life.

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