1 Corinthians 15:10But 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. English Standard Version (ESV)
Yesterday we considered how Jesus, the Good Shepherd calls us to follow Him as His sheep, His flock. Doing so will mean relinquishing the reins, the control of our lives. We may think, how could God use me, why should I give control of this life to Him.
In today's verse Paul admits who he is, saying "I am what I am", but that doesn't mean that God can't use him. Far from it, but it is not in his own power that Paul can accomplish anything, it is through the grace, the power of God working in him, enabling him to "work harder", to persevere.
John Piper writes, "I take this to mean that, as Paul faced each day's ministry burden, he bowed his head and confessed that unless future grace was given for that day's work, he would not be able to do it. He recalled Jesus' words, "Apart from me you can do nothing". So he prayed for future grace for the day, and he trusted in the promise that it would come with power. "My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus".(Philippians 4:19).
Do you face challenges today that seem overwhelming? Pray for "future grace" now. May He give you the grace, the power working "with you" to follow where He will lead you today. May we be able to say, to have the attitude "I'm not about to let his grace go to waste" (The Message).
1 Corinthians 15:9-11The Message (MSG)
3-9 The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don't deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God's church right out of existence.
10-11 But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it's all the same: We spoke God's truth and you entrusted your lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment