“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth…” (Romans 1:16a KJV)

The gospel, by virtue of its own power, gives us the ability to respond. I call it our “response-ability”. We who have a responsibility toward God and have often failed, now have a supernatural power to turn to and believe in. At last we can be saved from sin and self through the power of Jesus.

The gospel ignites a faith that takes God at His word. A faith that runs, not a faith that drags itself half-heartedly. A faith that leaps, not a faith that lugs as it were, a kind of deadness behind it. The Apostles Peter and John met a beggar at the temple one day who was lame from his mother’s womb. He had nothing to give and couldn’t do anything but ask. Peter looked directly at the man and said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up stood and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping, and praising God.” (Acts 3:6-8 KJV)

Every Christian was once a beggar who had nothing to give and couldn’t do anything but ask. “Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” (Matthew 7:7 KJV).

This is the glory of the Gospel.

copyright 2018 

Copyright 2022. Toni Babcock is author of Reflections from the Heart in Light of the Gospel of Jesus, and The Stone Writer, Christian Fiction for Young Readers and Teens. Many of her devotionals have been featured on www.faithwriters.com.