RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Around 2,000 years ago, the apostle Paul, one of the giants of the Christian faith and author of several books of the New Testament, said, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). This one-time persecutor of Christians had become one of the most vocal and influential voices of Christianity. His conversion was unexplainable, except in terms of the supernatural. But his courage was even more amazing. How could the greatest hater of Christianity become its foremost proponent?
It certainly wasn’t his eloquence and ability to move the masses that made him so courageous. He said, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4).
Paul understood that his conversion was a testimony to the power of God at work in him. God had changed Paul, and he never got over that. He knew that only a supernatural work of God in the hearts of others is what produces genuine conversion. So he was very careful to make sure that his message came in the power of God, not the power of human ability.
Paul’s courage was rooted in a personal and intimate knowledge of God’s power. He could never get over his experience on the road to Damascus. There he had encountered the resurrected Christ. That experience would thrust Paul into the world. It would make Him willing to die for Jesus. That experience set a fire burning in his bones that caused Paul to be a history maker and a world shaker.
Often I hear believers who grew up in Christian families say, “I don’t have a dynamic testimony like Paul. I just can’t share my faith with the same enthusiasm and courage that others have.”
My response to such reasoning is, “You just haven’t understood what a dynamic testimony is. The power of a testimony for Christ is not in how bad we’ve been, but rather in how great God is. It’s not how many laws we’ve broken, how many drugs we’ve taken, or if we’ve murdered someone. It took Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to save us, just as it did Paul. It took the same power and grace of God to forgive a nine-year-old child as it did to forgive a hater of Christians.”
It’s not the drama of his conversion that made Paul bold. It was the “power of God unto salvation” that made him courageous. That’s also what makes us courageous. I tell people everywhere in the world that I preach, “Today is a real miracle day. It’s a miracle because I stand here. I wasn’t seeking God, but He was seeking me. And one day, He got my attention and changed me. It’s a miracle because on a natural level, I wouldn’t be here. It’s because of God’s grace and power that I stand here today.”
You don’t have to be ashamed. You can be bold and courageous because it took the same power of God to save and forgive you that it did the apostle Paul. If you truly know Christ, you do have a dynamic testimony. That testimony is about what God has done, not what you’ve done. It’s His power, His love, and His forgiveness that make us courageous. You can say with as much conviction as Paul, “I am not ashamed.”