Today’s Bible Reading: 1 CORINTHIANS 14:1-15:58
1 Corinthians 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
For many of us our background and environment determine our development. There is a real decisive difference between those who grow up in the country and those who were raised in the city. They can honestly say, “I am who I am because of where I grew up.” For the most part this it is true, but with social media and real time universal relationships, you can be raised in one environment while becoming what you are as if you were raised in a totally different environment. This scenario is not uncommon in the spiritual realm as well. Someone can grow up apart from any spiritual influences in their life to become a deeply spiritual individual.
The Bible has several instances of those who were brought up one way and through a relationship with Christ had their life totally transformed. They can say, by the grace of God I am what I am. Paul is one of those individuals. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was a man of the law, legalistic and unbending. Everything he did centered around his adherence to God’s standard. He even found value in devaluing all those who didn’t agree. Christ and Christians were the enemy and thus needed to be eradicated. But everything changed when Paul met Jesus on his way to kill His followers.
We become believers by God’s grace. Grace is the factor that fabricates who we are. We are made by grace. We started by grace, we are sustained by grace and we shall be kept for glory by His grace. Apart for God’s grace we have no spiritual existence. By His grace I am what I am.
There was nothing about me or in me that brought about His grace. There was nothing that I could do to enable or establish His grace. There was no good in me that gained grace. There was nothing that was foreseen in me that would facilitate grace. I’m not who I am because of anything that I am or have done. It is by the grace of God that I am who I am.
Today thank God for His grace. Praise Him that as a believer you are who you are by His grace. Ask the Lord to help you live like one who has experienced His grace. Ask Him to help you rejoice in the fact that He is making you into who you will become. Thank Him that you can say with confidence, like Paul, by the grace of God I am what I am.
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