Devotion 

I Am Not Ashamed Of The Gospel

Frances Taylor 

Paul was a learned Jew who had first been an opponent of the early Christians even to the point of participating in the stoning of St. Stephen and the imprisonment of other Christians. When he became a Christian himself and then began preaching the Good News of salvation, he was driven out of town by the Jews who believed he was a fraud out to entrap them. Some probably believed he was a traitor to Judaism. Either way, he spent the better part of his life preaching to the Gentile world. He was not afraid to admit he had been wrong about Jesus, about Christianity. He was not ashamed to preach his new found truth. Most of us have always been Christian. Have you ever been ashamed to admit it? Now, I'm sure not all of you go to church on a regular basis, so I'm not judging, but I do have a question for those of you who do. Have you ever been embarrassed while on vacation or while attending a conference to ask where the nearest church is for a Sunday service? Have you cut a Saturday night short because you wanted to get up for church on Sunday? For the rest of you, have you stopped a friend or co-worker from telling dirty jokes or making offensive remarks? Or were you embarrassed to tell the friend it was against your moral values? In order to do our job as disciples, we need to be proud of our faith, not embarrassed by it.

Prayer 

Faithful God, you have called us as you called your son, Paul, to be your disciples. May we never be ashamed to tell others that we follow you. Amen.