Corinthians 15:9-10
“For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy 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 toward me was not in vain.” 1 Paul was someone that religionists could get behind, and they did. By his admission, Paul was “a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee…concerning the righteousness which is in the law—blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). What would possibly make him relinquish his lofty spiritual resume to humbly confess, “by the grace of God I am what I am?” It all hinged on one crucial word: grace.
Paul encountered Jesus and realized that nothing in his background or works warranted God’s unmerited favor—grace does that. Anything is possible when the gospel of grace is at work in a life. A good case in point is Peter.
As a rough Galilean fisherman, no one would’ve paid much attention to Peter. The religious intelligentsia would have scorned him as an uneducated country bumpkin. Here again, grace is the key. On the day of Pentecost, Peter’s shortcomings were inconsequential to the Holy Spirit, and by the grace of God, he went from foot-in-the-mouth Peter to a man with a powerful message.
God’s call to be a light in this world is never a case of what you can or cannot accomplish. It is what His grace enables you to do. Grace revolutionized Peter and Paul, setting each in a new direction. Neither of these men considered themselves to be an isolated phenomenon. And if they were here today, they would ask, “What is your story? How has God’s grace taken hold of you?
Awaiting His Return,
– Pastor Jack
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