But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not 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. (1 Corinthians 15:10)
I think it’s time for a lot of us to do a gut check. Really though, we need to understand that everything you or I do in our own perceived strength and ability is not from you or me, but from God within us that graces us with the ability to do so. A lot of us, I believe, because I am also guilty of it, give ourselves too much credit for the things we “earned” and “received” and blame God too often for the “mistakes” and “shortcomings” we’ve committed. I know you’re either humble bragging in your head, or you’re denying every last word you read. You get a promotion at work and you attribute that promotion to your “hard work” and “dedication.” No doubt that you put in a lot of time and worked really hard, and are probably really deserving of that promotion, but let’s be honest, that other guy, the guy you hate because he always seems to do whatever you’re doing better than you; well, he actually deserved the promotion, it just happens that you’re the one that got it. But let’s be real, you wouldn’t have given yourself the promotion, if you were the one making the decision. In fact, the reason you got the promotion was not by your own merits– it was the outcome of what could be deemed a lucky break or divine intervention, or a situation ending better than originally anticipated or planned for. It was by the grace of God that you were bestowed such blessing. Let’s not give ourselves the pat on the back for working hard. I’m sure you’ve mustered all of your will power in conjuring all that effort to show up day in and day out to do what you had to do to get there, but let’s give much more credence to the grace of God working within you and through you and for you. It was never I or me, but God. The Apostle Paul, in this passage, points out to the church that all of the work he accomplished and did was not really any credit toward his ability to do so or his work ethic. All that had happened and occurred through Paul was the power of God manifesting through grace in God’s graceful plan of redemption. We need to understand that like Paul understood it. Yes, it’s true, he worked hard, but it was not his doing, it was God at work with him. Likewise, we work hard, but it is not our own doing, but God’s grace working with you that produces any relevant results. Let’s remember God’s grace working with us every time we see results of any kind.
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