I Am What I Am, By God's Grace

I Corinthians 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.


The passage of scripture above has been a theme for me in the past couple weeks. In my typical fear of using the talent/s God gave me I began to worry about an upcoming singing practice at my church. God, in his amazing and unsearchable ways set up a time and place for me to be both challenged and encouraged. I came upon the passage above quite by God’s plan, through a devotional text from Oswald Chambers. There are two truths that came to light for me as this spiritual feast was laid on the table:
1. By God’s grace I am what I am
I am, at this very moment, not a failure, not second-rate, not unlovable, but I am God’s child, I’m exactly where God wants me to be, in fact, I have so many blessings for which to be thankful. To continually say that I do not have a good voice, that I am not a winner, that I do not deserve God’s love etc., is to say that God’s grace is not sufficient for me and that the power of Salvation in Christ is not powerful enough for me. It is by God’s grace that I am at this place in my life, and it is God’s perfect will that, having Salvation by and through Jesus Christ, I accept where he has placed me and how he is growing me. Does the God who formed the worlds of the universe at the sound of his voice not also have the power to pull me out of the despair of sin, cleanse me from every stain, and declare me righteous in his sight? Absolutely. I belong to God, and no weapon formed against me will prosper!
2. Time to examine myself: Pride
If I had read the above passage at a glance, there is no possible way I could end up at a place of bringing to light my own pride and unbelief. It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit and God’s love for me that would pierce the very hidden places of my heart to reveal hidden things. You see, as I continue to doubt and place limitations on this child of God, the root causes of pride, unbelief, and fear rise to the top. Without God, I can do nothing, we’ve established this, in that I am what I am, only by the grace of God. But what I tend to forget is what can be done WITH GOD. The answer is everything. There is nothing I CAN’T do when God is on my side. It becomes a kind of pride when I don’t accept that God can do anything through me, according to his good will and purpose for me. One might say it is humble to say, “I’m not very good at that, I’m just going to stay in the background”, or maybe this sounds familiar, “I’m not a very good speaker”. What would have happened if Moses refused to heed the calling of God? The fact is that God calls and uses common people to do great things. When we don’t trust God and allow him to do what he pleases in us, it is a kind of pride, as if to say, “God, I don’t really believe you are powerful enough to do these things”.

God is so good to have both lifted me up to bring encouragement and reprove me for the unbelief and pride in my heart. I can do nothing without him, and that’s okay, because everything that a servant of Jesus Christ does in the name of Jesus Christ is also done by the power and grace of Jesus Christ. Every gift of talent, knowledge, wisdom, confidence, and anything else that is Godly and good is from the Lord. I must only be willing to be a vessel for use and place my trust in God. God’s power and sovereignty does not depend on my abilities or lack thereof. His plan is perfect and I am thankful to be saved from the bondage of sin today.

May this serve as an encouragement to you today as you seek to follow Jesus in all things. God Bless You.