MONDAY February 12th
1 Corinthians 15:10–11
‘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. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.’
I love this first sentence in these two verses, Paul acknowledges that he is what and who he is, not because of anything he had done or by anything he had achieved but solely based upon the grace of God. He then gives honour to the grace of God by recognising the grace that God had shown toward him and showered upon him had not been in vain. He had begun the race on the Damascus Road, he had continued in the race, which had taken him to the Jew, to the Gentiles and to Kings and he knew that the same grace would enable him to arrive home, that is to his eternal destination.
The grace of God had enabled him to fight the good fight of the faith, to defend that which he himself had previously sought to destroy and to preach the gospel whatever the cost so that others would believe.
He acknowledges that the grace of God was with him, without it, he would never have succeeded, without it he would never have managed to get out of the starting blocks, the grace of God, so undeserved yet at the same time so necessary.
May we also recognise the work of the grace of God in our own lives, and ensure that we do not get caught up, or entangled in anything that would cause the grace of God to be in vain. This world is full of so many things and sadly people who if we allow them to, would distract us and pull us away from God, things that could so easily cause us in the context of the verses I mentioned in the previous devotion to take our eyes off Jesus who is the author and the perfector of our faith, things that will cause us to focus on other things that in the long term do not really matter.
In the words of a verse from Matthew which has already been quoted a few times this year from the preaching in Emmanuel, ‘But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you’ (6:33).
One of those things that will be added to our lives as we seek first the kingdom of God is his grace and favour.
Your grace still amazes me,
Your love is still a mystery.
Each day I fall on my knees,
‘Cause your grace still amazes me.
Your grace still amazes me.