Grace of God

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

GRACE OF GOD

1 Cor 15:9-11

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them — yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

NIV

This might be a personal statement of Paul’s history and his life now, it also gives us a picture of ourselves. First, we should say that we are the least among the body of Christ, for at one time we hated God and all organized religions. We spoke out against the church, not in the same way Paul did, who actually went around arresting believers or having them stoned. Nevertheless, we were opposed to the belief in God, looking only at our humanity to achieve our personal pleasures. This is not to say that we were not aware of a God, but that we could not justify his being what believers thought he was, the creator of all things, and that he answers their prayers. However, the grace of God stuck straight as an arrow right into our hearts, and it is by the grace of God we are who we are because His grace was not without effect. Although I am using the third person, this testimony is my personal story and is not intended to imply anyone else was who I was before the Grace of God came upon me. I was hateful, abusive toward others, and resentful of those who believed and knew only solitude as I trusted only in myself. But the grace of God was at work in me, and change occurred. I worked diligently to serve my Lord, yet throughout those years, I realized, as Paul states, that it was not and is not me that does all that I have and am doing, but rather it is the grace of God that was and is with me. Here is where the word grace that Paul used is Charis, which is the effect of what is due to this grace, is the divine influence upon our lives and how that is reflected in our lives. In order words, as Paul puts it that all he did, all the work for the kingdom was not by his human power, but by the power of God influencing his life, moving within him, empowering him to be who God intended him to be. This has to be our, or I should say, my story. I have no talent, no skill, no formal training to be who I am today, and yet by the power of the Spirit indwelling within and the influence of God upon me, I have become who I am today and all or anything I do for the kingdom of God is not through my humanity, but because of the grace of God in my life. It is God who gave me faith to start with, and it is God who began this work in me, and it is God who is going to complete this work in me which will continue until He decides when I will take my last breath. But the fact is that God is doing the work in all of us, and will continue to do this work in us, using all of us for His glory and for the advancement, encouragement, and edification of the body of Christ until we all take our last breath. It is nothing about us, but all about the grace of God.