It's In the Promise: Salvation not Shame

<p>I am a massive fan of Game of Thrones an HBO series about power struggles between kingdoms in a mythical time and realm. In one episode a woman who was evil at her core and would stop at nothing to be the leader of the kingdom was led down a street naked and shamed for her crimes and misdeeds according to the religious sect within the kingdom. As she walked the crowd threw rotten food and cried “SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!” Needless to say, it was a powerful message of how religion can derail from its core values of love, patience, hope, and peace. This was all done to create a feeling of humiliation for this woman, it was to create a loss of respect for someone who at one time was held in high esteem. It was used to reprove her of her behavior.</p> <p>In the scripture today Paul, an Apostle of the early Church, makes this statement; “I am no longer asked of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it the good news, the Grace of God is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. For me, this indicates that Paul felt shame about preaching the message at one time. Remember, Paul was a convert. He initially preached against the gospel message and persecuted the men and women who believed. It was not until he had an experience with Jesus that he realized that he was on a losing side. The scriptures give us no indication of how long it took for Paul to be able to preach the gospel without being ashamed, however, it happened.</p> <p>Here is the promise: this Grace that we preach, this Gospel that we teach and live and share is the power of salvation. This salvation is not just for ourselves, it is for the entire world! Forever many, humans will believe.</p> <p>It is not our promise, nor our POWER to divide God’s salvation to whom we want to. It is HIS to give freely to all who believe. I am reminded of the scripture that says while we were all in our sin God showed us (humans) great mercy and send his Son, Christ to die for us <em>in our place</em>. (Romans 5:8)</p> <p>John 3:16</p> <p>For God so loved the world that He gave His o