By the Grace OF God

By the Grace of God

Part 1: Saving Grace

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain.”
1 Corinthians 15:10

There is something I have always admired about Paul: he knew who he was in light of who Christ is.

Before Paul became the apostle we know, he was Saul, a man convinced that he was doing what was right. He persecuted the followers of Jesus and was on his way to Damascus to continue doing just that when Christ met him on the road.

In that encounter, the risen Christ temporarily took Paul's physical sight. For three days, Paul could not see.

I often think there is something profound in that moment. The man who had been so certain that he could see clearly was brought to a place where he couldn't see at all. And there, Paul began to understand the truth about Jesus and, in turn, the truth about himself.

Then Paul's physical sight was restored, but he had gained something even greater: true sight. He could now see Jesus for who He truly is, and he could see himself in light of Christ.

Years later, when Paul writes to the Corinthians, he doesn't hide his past. Just before saying, “By the grace of God I am what I am,” he remembers that he had persecuted the church of God and says that he was unworthy to be called an apostle.

Paul knew who he had been.

But he also knew who he was now because of Christ.

And between those two realities stood one word:

Grace.

Paul understood grace because he understood that he could not save himself.

That is the beauty of the Gospel for us as well.

Scripture tells us that we were dead in our sins, “but God” made us alive with Christ. And then come those familiar words:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
Ephesians 2:8

Grace is not simply God helping us become a better version of ourselves.

Grace makes us alive in Christ.

We were lost, and in Him we are found.
We were dead in sin, and in Him we are made alive.
We were blind, but now we can see.
We were bound by what we had been, and in Christ we are made new.

If we lose sight of who we were without Christ, we can also lose our wonder at the saving grace of our Lord.

Perhaps that is why Paul's words carry so much weight:

“By the grace of God I am what I am.”

He could look backward without being imprisoned by his past because his past magnified the grace of God.

And he could look forward without depending upon himself because he knew that the same grace that had saved him was still at work in him.

A New Season

As we enter a new season, perhaps our first invitation is not to make another list of everything we want to accomplish or change.

Perhaps it is simply to remember.

Remember who we were without Christ.

Remember what Christ has done.

Remember who we are now in Him.

And remember that the grace that saved us is still at work.

Paul continues:

“And His grace toward me was not in vain.”

What a prayer for a new season:

Lord, let Your grace toward me not be in vain.

Let the grace that saved me continue to transform me.

Let it change the way I love.
The way I forgive.
The way I serve.
The way I respond when life does not go according to plan.
The way I see myself.
And the way I see others.

We enter this season not trying to earn what Christ has already freely given, but walking as women who have been saved by grace, made alive in Christ, and made new in Him.

Something to Carry With You

Have I become so familiar with grace that I have forgotten the wonder of what Christ has saved me from and what He has made me alive to?
As you enter this new season, take some time simply to remember the saving grace of God and thank Him for who you are now because of Christ.

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