"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." - 2 Timothy 1:7


"Although the community of the Lord's servant-witnesses is characterized by a tangible love that is attractive to outsiders (Acts 2:47; 5:13), their testimony makes no peace with any alternative to faith in Jesus. Religious "solutions" apart from Jesus the Savior are dangerous frauds with which there can be no compromise or polite toleration." - Dennis Johnson in "The Message of Acts"


Where does the boldness and confidence come from to proclaim unapologetically the gospel of Christ (defined in Romans 1 as the "power of God for salvation to everyone who believes [in Christ Jesus])? It comes from an unshakable confidence that the Word of God and all that He proclaims through it is Truth. Where does this unshakable confidence come from? It comes from faith. Where does faith come from? It is the first drop of living water that lands on a parched soul...the first drop of a never-ending deluge of divine grace. It is a gift, according to the passage quoted above from 2nd Timothy. God did not GIVE us a spirit of timidity, rather He GIVES us one of power, love, and self-discipline.

So God is not calling us to testify to His saving perogative and transforming power based on our own strength. He is not commanding us to search our souls and muster up the cahones to declare His Gospel to our friends, coworkers, neighbors, bosses, fraternity brothers, family members, classmates, strangers, etc. No! He points us away from ourselves and our meager supplies of courage. He gently lifts our eyes to Heaven...to marvel again at who He is...to hold out our pauper hands and ask Him for faith to believe, faith to declare, faith to live a life unashamed of the King of Kings, faith to actually see and live according to that which is not plainly visible. He will give abundantly to those who ask. To those who seek His Kingdom...who hunger for the grace to be made useful in His Kingdom work...He will surely give.

Because a non-testifying saint is a non-believing saint, we must repent...we are called and commanded to repent of our self-infatuation, of our refusal to bow before our King and submit to His will. So, if you are like me and play the role the coward well...or if the message of Christ crucified has ever challenged your arrogant pride to the point that you would rather not talk about Jesus than talk about Him and risk enduring the same ridicule He experienced, then join me in repenting and relying again on the accomplished work of Jesus...the work of Jesus that resurrected you, that made you right with God once and for all, that wiped away the crimson stains of your embarrassment of Him...the work that equipped you to serve, that dispatched the Spirit of Omnipotence to your very heart.

In the end, we've got to remember that this life is not easy. God calls His people to live differently, to live costly lives...that are colored more by suffering and sacrifice than comfort and security. He beckons us to die every day and carry our cross. The same brand of cross that Christ bore...the cross that was so inextricably associated with humiliation. As we seek to die to self and live to Christ, let's remember the Captain of our faith...who never trembled before men, who never cowered from submitting to His Father's will...not even when His Father's will consigned Him to the deepest shame of dying abandoned and stark naked on a Roman cross.