10 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: 10
This is one of the famous verses in 1 Corinthians. Paul is summarizing his responses to their questions but ends on this personal note. He keeps calling the believers back to their faith in Jesus, not other preachers, and to the challenge to live at peace with others. Yesterday he summarized the basic principles of his faith and ended with the realization that he believed in Jesus after a personal encounter with him and after a time in his life when he was trying to kill Christians. He knows he did not deserve God’s love. He was aware of his unworthiness for the happiness he had found. He sums it up today with the word “grace.”
For many of us we can look back over our lives, especially if we are older, and realize the mistakes we have made but hopefully we can also identify many ways we have been blessed more than we deserved. Let’s make an acrostic of the word grace, not to define it but to help us think of ways we have been blessed. For example “G” might be for gifts that surprised us, or generosity that felt undeserved, or maybe just a goldfish that we enjoyed, or a good meal, or….
”G” is for ________
”R” is for ________
”A” is for ________
”C” is for ________
“E” is for ________ ….evenings with beautiful sunsets. Thank you, Lord!
On the Way to Wonder 