Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 118 · April 28
Not Ashamed
“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.”
When did you last change the subject because your faith had come up?
Paul writes "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ" to the church in Rome, the capital of the empire, and he says less than he means on purpose. He has just told them, "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise." To Rome the whole message would have sounded small and foolish: a Jewish workman executed in the way the empire shamed its lowest criminals, and a travelling Jewish preacher announcing it. In another letter, written from prison, Paul uses the same words again and gives his reason: "I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed." In Romans the reason is even bigger: "For it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."
So what made you go quiet the last time? Whatever it was, the message you held back is still the power of God, and the One you have believed is still able to keep you.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 118 is No More Tears (Revelation 21:4).