Good Morning Friends,
“Last of all he appeared to me also, as to
one abnormally born. 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. 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.” (1 Corinthians 15:8-10)
Grace made an impact on Paul’s life.
It was grace that caused Jesus to appear to
Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul
wasn’t even a follower of Christ at that time.
In fact, he was the opposite -- he violently opposed those who were
Christians. He didn’t deserve such an
unusual opportunity to be made aware of the truth. Christ appeared to him only as the result of
His grace toward Paul.
It was grace that placed Paul into the position
of apostle. Only a very few men were
ever called to be apostles. Paul didn’t
deserve to be among that number. He had
been a persecutor of the church, even standing by encouraging those who killed
Stephen. He didn’t even deserve the back
row of the church, much less a position of honor and authority. It was grace that made him an apostle.
It was grace that enabled Paul to accomplish
all that he did for the kingdom. He
preached where no one had preached before.
He started new churches. He saw
thousands of people come to Christ.
Perhaps no one has ever had a more significant impact on the growth of
the church than Paul did in those early days.
But it wasn’t Paul’s superior abilities or hard work that enabled him to
accomplish what he did. It was grace,
God’s enabling, God’s power, God’s blessings that worked in Paul.
Paul was a product of grace: his salvation, his position, his
accomplishments. He earned none of
it. He deserved none of it. It was all grace. The same is true in our lives! It’s all grace.
His, by Grace,
Steve
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