The grace of God

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not without effect.” 1 Corinthians 15:10
In the first part of 1 Corinthians 15 (the ‘resurrection chapter’), Paul reflects on his own conversion: that God had saved him although he was once a violent persecutor of the church. In Paul’s eyes, he did not deserve to be shown kindness by God. He fully realised the value of the grace of God, for without it he would be eternally lost.
The same is true for all of us. We may not have persecuted the church, or had Christians condemned to death, or stood by watching while they were executed (Acts 8:1). But we have all sinned against God in some degree. Some of us can see how God’s grace has rescued us from a lifestyle of sin and destruction. Others of us may see how the grace of God was pre-emptive, sparing us from something. This is the case for me personally: I grew up in a Christian home and have always known God from as long as I can remember. But in the studying I would later do and the professional field I have moved into (scientific research), I can see why God saved me from a young age. If He hadn’t, I may well have developed the same kind of intellectual blindness towards Him that many of my colleagues demonstrate.
So, like Paul, we can all say, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ Without God’s grace, we would all be lost. I hope that we can also say, ‘and His grace to me was not without effect.’ This grace shown to us should change the way we live.