There is a spectacular piece of roadway in Colorado, carving through the San Juan mountains, between Durango and Ouray. Appropriately named, the Million Dollar Highway was etched into the sheer cliffs, with drops of up to 400 feet. Remarkably, it was made in the late 1800s using primitive but daring methods.
Workers armed with hand tools and dynamite blasted through solid rock to create a narrow ledge barely wide enough for wagons, chiseling the route into slopes where no road had ever belonged. These crews detonated charges to break apart the mountainside, then hauled debris away and built retaining walls to stabilize the blasted sections, all while working above deadly drop‑offs and in brutal weather. The result was a road literally blasted into existence—an engineering gamble that linked isolated mining towns and became one of America’s most dramatic and dangerous mountain highways.
There is one word that comes to mind at this time every year: dynamite. As we have seen, dynamite has the power to both create and destroy, a power rooted in its very origins. The word dynamite comes from the Greek word dýnamis, meaning force or power. This is a word Paul loves. He uses it to anchor new believers in the unshakable reality of God’s power. In fact, Paul uses the word “power” 29 times in the book of Romans alone.
Romans 1:16, 20 “For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes–the Jew first and also the Gentile. … 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”
Romans 6:4 “For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”
Romans 15:13 “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Do not miss what Paul is saying. The same power that created the world — the same power that raised Jesus from the dead — is the very power that saves us. And not only that: that same power now flows into us through the Holy Spirit, filling us with unshakable confidence.
Do we truly recognize this? We celebrate the power of the Resurrection; we rejoice that our Savior was raised from the dead. But do you realize it is the same power by which God saves us? The same power that raises us from death to life? And now that same power that now lives in you?
Armed with this knowledge, God says that we should not be ashamed. We should proudly champion that God’s power is revealed and displayed in us. Consider dynamite’s ability: it can create and destroy. It creates new pathways; it can also destroy old strongholds. How will you allow God’s power to change you? The power that created the world has been used to make you new. I hope that makes you unashamed.