By His Grace....

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:10, NKJV

Among the Corinthians were those who actually preached that Christ did not rise from the dead. Paul refutes this false doctrine vigorously in 1 Corinthians 15, impressing even unbelieving scholars with the credibility of his arguments and evidence. As part of his defense, Paul reminds the Corinthians of the hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw the risen Jesus, including himself and the more eminent apostles. The message preached by Paul and the message preached by the other apostles was the same: Jesus died, was buried, and rose again on the third day, and thereby paid the price for our sins and paved the way for us to be resurrected as well. Paul was the last eyewitness in a chronological sense, Christ having been seen by him "as by one born out of due time." (vs. 8) Paul also calls himself the least of the apostles, "...not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God." (vs. 9) Paul laid the credit for his role, and his labor that was more abundant than all the other apostles, all at God's feet. It was by His grace that Paul was who he was, and God's grace had not been given in vain; it worked mightily in Paul, making his weakness his strength (because where we are weak God must therefore be strong, and His strength is better than ours). Paul was rich in labor. He traveled thousands of miles without modern transportation, he was shipwrecked, he was imprisoned, he was beaten, he was stoned, he wrote most of the books of the New Testament, he was constantly praying, preaching, and exhorting - the man never stopped. He labored not because he felt a weight of guilt and condemnation for his former sins; he labored not because he had a debt to pay, or else; he did not actually labor at all. It was all the grace of God working in him and through him. This is God's gift to the believer. All that He would have us do He will empower us to do. In fact, He will go so far as to do it Himself, providing all the energy, wisdom, opportunity, and means that are required. All we have to do is go along for the ride. This is the power and blessing of God's grace - His unmerited favor - which does exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.

by Rebecca....