"And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." 1 Corinthians 2:4-5
This message is one of substantial courage for me, because I am not a theology student. I love the Lord. I enjoy my growing spirituality, but sometimes I feel silenced in front of others who spent their time studying in seminary. I feel afraid to speak what I believe in front of the educated.
But this message here is what I need. Paul shows that the Gospel doesn't always need fancy words or discourse. The Gospel is amazing just because it is amazing: God loves us, and Jesus, God's incarnation, lived a life of purity, suffered death, and rose again, so that we can have eternal life. That's a message of amazing love.
I hear many of my Christian friends say that they can't preach or can't write about their faith because they aren't educated or because they don't know how to say things like a preacher would. Just remember, the Gospel has been transmitted by whatever means necessary: the evangelists did not have the most refined Greek, but they still wrote; the early apostles weren't the richest people in the world, but they traveled around with what they had; the Jews were oppressed in the times of Jesus, but they still proclaimed their faith in the face of death.
Make Lent be a time to celebrate your faith and to share your story. All of us need more of these stories, for that's how our faith grows. We read the bible to encounter more stories of faith, and a community that shares its stories of faith will only continue to grow. God has been revealed to so many different people, so let's listen and share.
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