Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been 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 proclaim and so you have come to believe. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11, NRSV)
Paul here told the Corinthians, “But by the grace of God I am what I am!”
I yam what I yam…
I am a sinner saved by grace!
We are all dependent upon the grace and love of God. and we look up to Paul, but he says he is the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle because of his past. Yet he is the model for most of us in our faith walk.
and if we looked at the heroes of our faith we would see that they really aren’t the kind of people we should be modeling our lives after, but they are, because they have been transformed by God’s grace, and so have we, so we can all say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am!”
aSacredRebel 