For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes… (Romans 1:16, NIV)
We’re in the midst of a three-day look at the power of God. Yesterday we noticed that Jesus dismissed the nature of the Sadducees’ questions because these leaders—religious though they be—did not know the power of God. It’s a most worthwhile endeavor then to get as strong a grasp as we can on what God’s power is.
In writing to the Romans, Paul made a fascinating connection between the gospel and the power of God. They are, he said, the same for those who believe.
Perhaps we should begin by making sure we understand what is being referred to when we use the common phrase “the gospel.” And this is no easy task, for many church leaders today will tell you that they “just preach the gospel.” Then they charge right on to their next point without establishing what they mean by the phrase.
Most believers can tell you that gospel means, in a literal sense, “good news.” But is that good news that same for everyone? The good news for the adulteress woman was that her immediate sin was overlooked and her life was spared. The good news for Peter the fisherman was that Messiah had come and he was a man worthy of being followed. The good news for an addict is that the strength to resist comes from the Lord. The good news for the mother who has lost her child is that a loving God can sustain her and remind her that there is a purpose in the grief.
But preachers aren’t typically so specific in their use of “the gospel.” So they must mean something that applies to us all. That something is this: salvation—the very thing to which Paul referred in writing to the Romans.
Jesus offers the good news that you and I may be saved. In that, there is good news for everyone—for the sinner, the blunderer, the addict, the grieved… for, as Jesus spoke of in the Beatitudes, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the persecuted.
There are no other remedies like the gospel that saves. There is nothing else so powerful that it can reach into whatever your circumstances and restore you.
Do you really yearn for the power of God in your life? Then step into the healing pool of the gospel. Find in Christ—and in Christ alone—the strength to overcome…
loneliness
increasing expectations
depression
anger
worry
habitual sin
emotional hurt
financial ruin
physical ailments
injustice…
—
Jeff Hopper
May 1, 2012
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday at www.linksplayers.com.