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. (Romans 1:16)The power of God. . . that's what it is that keeps bouncing around in my mind. The Gospel, the Good News, is the power of God. I'm contending with how to put what I'm thinking into words right now, but in midst of my momentary ineptness I do know one thing--if the Gospel really is the power of God (and it is), it changes everything.
Think about it. Better yet, think about God. He is the Creator. Paul tells us in Romans 11:36 that, "from him, through him and to him are all things." When King Nebuchadnezzer came back to his senses and repented he said this:
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heave and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?" (Daniel 4:34,35)In the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, Moses asks the question, "Who is like, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?" The Psalmist tells us that, "The Lord has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all." When Isaiah say the holiness of God in the temple, he said that he would die simply by being in magnificent presence of God. Indeed, God says to Moses that no one can see His face and live (Ex 33:20) and Paul says that God dwells in light that is approachable (1 Tim 6:16).
That is what God is like, and the Gospel, is His power. This is massive. It's life changing. And, as I thought about it I began to ask myself; how should this be continuing change me? Where should it be changing me right now? That statement by Paul in Romans 1:16 is so gigantic and intrusive to everything that I know that it absolutely, no questions asked, should have a progressive impact in my life. It has to. If God is like Scripture says He is, and the Gospel is His power, it should do something to everything I do (and that you do).
I'm having these thoughts first, because God is gracious and loving and He is giving me grace, in His Son, to think about and understand a verse that I've read over countless times in a deeper way. Secondly, I'm taking a class right now that's all about the Gospel and preaching the Gospel to yourself and others. It's a great class, a great class. So it's probably fitting that God would use a verse like Romans 1:16 to show me the impact that diurnally preaching Gospel to myself can (and should) have. It is indeed the power of God.
How is this truth affecting your life?
