PROCLAIM THE TRUTH"Do not be ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God, unto salvation, for those who believe."

-Romans 1:16

In my first year as a high school teacher I had big plans for sharing the love of Christ with students. Before school began I had complied a list of key spiritual truths with corresponding scriptures that sat inside my desk ready to go. I started out strong. The first day I had a theme verse on the front wall above the marker broad and talked about how learning about life was more important than learning about Chemistry. On parent night, I even reminded mom and dad that I cared most about their son or daughter's relationship with the Lord (this is all taking place at a Christian school mind you).

But despite my enthusiastic beginning, only a month into the year, I hit a wall. My students seemed to care less about the Monday's weekly weekly devotional and so I stopped. I grew fearful of forcing the Bible down their throat. This trend continued for a few weeks until I was reminded in Acts 26:16-18 that I, like Paul, had been appointed by God to be a minster and witness for his name. I had been ashamed of the gospel, doubted its power, and hadn't been giving the Lord the chance to work in the spiritual lives of my students. I also realized that I needed to make my message short, sweet and relate it to their lives. To remind myself of the biggest part of my job description as a teacher, I wrote the words, "Proclaim the truth" on a 3 X 5 card and taped it to the top of my computer screen. For the remainder of the year, I didn't miss a week and faithfully proclaimed the amazing truth of God's forgiveness and the wonder of living a life following him. What can you do to remind yourself to not be ashamed as you proclaim the truth of God's gospel today?