1 Corinthians 15:10 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.

Paul was well aware of all that he had done, both before and after encountering the risen Lord on the way to Damascus. That made him very sharply aware of God’s grace, because his life could be explained no other way. I don’t think he’s putting the other apostles down here, but he is recognizing the sheer volume of work the Lord had accomplished through him. Paul was indeed a special case. We know definitively that Peter was married, and in 1 Corinthians 9:5 Paul seems to imply that the majority of the other apostles were married as well, but Paul stayed single, and seemed to enjoy the liberty that gave him. Some use such liberty to carouse, but Paul used it to labor for the Lord. That said, recognizing that Paul was a special case, what he said about himself can actually be applied to every believer: “By God’s grace I am what I am.” We sometimes speak of a “self-made man,” but even such a person is as they are only by the grace of God. The things about ourselves we can’t control, such as our genetics and our environment, might go without saying as being by God’s grace, but even the things we accomplish personally fit into that category, because it is God who has given us the abilities involved. All the way back in Deuteronomy 8:18 Moses pointed out explicitly that it is God who gives us the ability to produce wealth. Perhaps the biggest problem with celebrity is that when we get it, we tend to think we deserve it. The flip side of that is called “imposter syndrome,” where people can become paralyzed by the awareness that they don’t deserve all the accolades and attention being poured out on them. Paul’s attitude, expressed here, is the answer to both sides of that. Only an awareness of God’s grace can give us a clear-eyed appreciation for what He has done and can do in and through us.

This certainly applies to me! For too much of my life I wallowed in pride, not recognizing sufficiently that it was God who had supplied my genetics and I could take no credit. By most counts I have been a considerable underachiever, not being a very good steward of all the things God poured out on me. That current awareness gives me a very sharp appreciation for God’s grace! I am currently in the process of writing my autobiography, simply to record the magnificence of that grace, but I find I’m not very consistent or persistent in that process either. I need not only to appreciate God’s grace but appropriate it and exercise it, letting it empower me to do all that God desires of me, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for getting me to finally start making the candles for Christmas yesterday. Help me follow through consistently. Thank You that I only have about a month more of school classes to deal with. Lord, every year I tend to dread the holiday season because of all that I see as demands on me. Help me rest, relax, and rejoice in You, allowing You to carry me through everything by Your gracious power, so that all with whom I interact may see You and be drawn to You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!