His Grace Was Not Without Effect
Tuesday February 15, 2011
“9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.” (1 Cor 15:9-10)
Paul persecuted Christians prior to the Lord’s appearing to Him when He asked him “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He revealed Himself to Saul and let him know that when he was persecuting Christians, he was persecuting Christ Himself. Then He gave Saul a new name (Paul) and gave him a new mission of spreading the Gospel, which is opposite of what he had been doing. This is why Paul said the above (1 Cor 15:9-10) to the Corinthians. I love verse 10! “10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.”
So what does that mean to you? First of all, I see this as a great testimony of the grace of God! Even those who hate Him or His Son are not out of reach of His salvation. He loves everyone and when Jesus died on the Cross, He died for EVERYONE! God took a man who persecuted Him and made him into one of the most passionate apostles in the New Testament.
God can take any one of us and do the same because it is He doing it, not us. His power is made perfect in our weakness! If we say, “I can’t be like that! I wasn’t made that way!” we are not applying His grace to our lives. We are limiting God by our own capabilities. If God wants to do something through us, He WILL give us the grace and power to do it. It is not at all prideful to say that it can be done because it is God doing the work. It is false humility to suggest that that it can’t be done through us because of “how we were made”. True humility is to admit that we can’t do it on our own, but to know and proclaim that God can!
I also see this as Paul saying, “By the grace of God, I am what I am whether you like it or not.” Paul did not worry about what other people thought of Him. He only cared what God thought and daily sacrificed his own “reputation” for the glory of God. He was more concerned with maintaining His relationship with God and allowing nothing to get in the way. He was fully dedicated to the Mission.
When the Lord “appeared to me”, I like Saul was on a path that was contrary to God’s path , but my life made a drastic transformation; all the glory be to God. I am not perfect and I never will be. I don’t believe that Paul was perfect either. Becoming a “saint” is just a testimony to what Christ did for us in dying for our sins on the Cross and rising to give us victory over them. It is not a term meant to imply that a person is perfect nor is it prideful to claim to be a saint, unless of course you are not truly saved. God will be working on us until Christ returns and defeats all evil indefinitely. Each day as a believer we just become a little more like Jesus, but we will never be perfect until that day! I still struggle each day with my own flesh. I am one who sometimes exercises false humility which shows my own lack of faith and is actually pride in disguise. I also struggle a lot with caring about what others think of me. I have to take up my cross each day and put on the full armor of God to fight off these attacks and to apply the Truth to my life by the grace of God.
“8Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.” (Isa 64:8)
Tuesday February 15, 2011
“9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.” (1 Cor 15:9-10)
Paul persecuted Christians prior to the Lord’s appearing to Him when He asked him “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” He revealed Himself to Saul and let him know that when he was persecuting Christians, he was persecuting Christ Himself. Then He gave Saul a new name (Paul) and gave him a new mission of spreading the Gospel, which is opposite of what he had been doing. This is why Paul said the above (1 Cor 15:9-10) to the Corinthians. I love verse 10! “10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.”
So what does that mean to you? First of all, I see this as a great testimony of the grace of God! Even those who hate Him or His Son are not out of reach of His salvation. He loves everyone and when Jesus died on the Cross, He died for EVERYONE! God took a man who persecuted Him and made him into one of the most passionate apostles in the New Testament.
God can take any one of us and do the same because it is He doing it, not us. His power is made perfect in our weakness! If we say, “I can’t be like that! I wasn’t made that way!” we are not applying His grace to our lives. We are limiting God by our own capabilities. If God wants to do something through us, He WILL give us the grace and power to do it. It is not at all prideful to say that it can be done because it is God doing the work. It is false humility to suggest that that it can’t be done through us because of “how we were made”. True humility is to admit that we can’t do it on our own, but to know and proclaim that God can!
I also see this as Paul saying, “By the grace of God, I am what I am whether you like it or not.” Paul did not worry about what other people thought of Him. He only cared what God thought and daily sacrificed his own “reputation” for the glory of God. He was more concerned with maintaining His relationship with God and allowing nothing to get in the way. He was fully dedicated to the Mission.
When the Lord “appeared to me”, I like Saul was on a path that was contrary to God’s path , but my life made a drastic transformation; all the glory be to God. I am not perfect and I never will be. I don’t believe that Paul was perfect either. Becoming a “saint” is just a testimony to what Christ did for us in dying for our sins on the Cross and rising to give us victory over them. It is not a term meant to imply that a person is perfect nor is it prideful to claim to be a saint, unless of course you are not truly saved. God will be working on us until Christ returns and defeats all evil indefinitely. Each day as a believer we just become a little more like Jesus, but we will never be perfect until that day! I still struggle each day with my own flesh. I am one who sometimes exercises false humility which shows my own lack of faith and is actually pride in disguise. I also struggle a lot with caring about what others think of me. I have to take up my cross each day and put on the full armor of God to fight off these attacks and to apply the Truth to my life by the grace of God.
“8Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.” (Isa 64:8)
