THE FEAR OF BEING OSTRACISED

"You are a holy freak!"... "Don't be a goody two shoes!" Are we afraid of people calling us names like these? Being a young Christian, it is inevitable that we face such a struggle. The moment we try to share our faith with non-Christian friends, their attitudes towards us can suddenly change. We are afraid of being ostracised. This week, the Youth Corner has embarked on a new theme "Not Ashamed". As Christians, we should and must not be ashamed of the Gospel. In Romans 1:9, Paul wrote, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ". Paul wasn't ashamed of the gospel for two reasons.

1. HE BELIEVED STRONGLY IN THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL

"For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes..." (Rom. 1:16)

Paul had a high view of the gospel. He believed that within the gospel, there is tremendous power. When people hear the gospel and believe in Christ, that person can have salvation in Him. When we have a strong belief in the power of the gospel, we can't help but share Christ. There comes courage and strength to share the gospel. Young people, do we really believe in the tremendous power of the gospel? We must.

2. HE HAD A DEEP SENSE OF INDEBTEDNESS TO SHARE WITH OTHERS THE GOSPEL

"I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise." (Rom. 1:14)

Not only was there strong belief, he also felt a great sense of indebtedness to share the gospel with everyone. For Paul, it was by the exceeding grace of God that he discovered Christ and His salvation. He felt that he owed it to people to tell them about the gospel of Christ. Do we feel a sense of indebtedness to share with our close friends the Lord Jesus Christ? Let's not be ashamed of the gospel. The prospects of our friends spending eternity in either hell or heaven must out-weigh the temporary and momentary joys of our worldly friendship with them. We must share with them the gospel of Christ. We owe it to them.

 

                                                                                                                                Mitchell Tan