We live in a world of qualifications.
Tests, training programs, and apprenticeships are required to ensure we have the requisite understanding and experience before we are entrusted to execute an activity alone.
We conveniently carry this perspective over to sharing our faith when it feels uncomfortable to do so; expressing our desire to share, but lamenting our lack of training and eloquence to achieve it. Paul instead brings a perspective that is freeing and hopeful:
“I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate-I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it- and so nothing I said could have impressed you are anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.”
Paul did not know where to start, but nonetheless stepped forward and boldly took the chance. He trusted not on his own understanding and eloquence, but placed his faith in the power of the Message and acted.
As I read and consider the passage, I am convicted by the times I have allowed fear to relegate me to silence or inaction. I am disappointed by the opportunities I have let slip because I didn’t think I was quite ready for primetime.
Yet each day brings with it hope anew. And this day let us instead boldly step forward and trust the power of the Message and not ourselves. We may never be as ready and comfortable as we desire to be, but the miracle is we don’t have to. We simply must open the door.