All of us who know the Lord Jesus can give God credit for making us something of value. Indeed, we were not very lovely when He found us, but He extended to us marvelous grace that made us articles of His divine favor.

Paul had the same distinction as us, except he had another thing to ponder. He was so bad, he felt less deserving than anyone because he had persecuted and killed some of those he would now call brothers in faith. His sin against God surely must have been greater than those who simply rejected God's saving grace. At least that's what one might conclude who doesn't understand Scripture.

God doesn't rank sin and for that reason, someone like Paul who targeted and killed God's people is no less worthy of God's grace than someone whose offense includes lying, cheating, adultery or the like. God's grace is truly greater than our sin and I for one am so glad! But have you considered grace is like manna. That is, it's not permanent, for we must have it daily to survive.

All the other disciples had the privilege of walking with Jesus whereas Paul, who met Christ after the resurrection, considered his apostleship abnormal (Vs. 8). He knew his past better than anyone and because of that fact, considered God's grace even more amazing than the "normal" apostles.

Maybe you've been saved and made clean and like Paul were saved after having been a "great" sinner. Then you may have the tendency to see your present situation in one of two wrong perspectives: 1) you were so bad, you can never amount to any good and 2) your "badness" before conversion makes you a "better" Christian than anyone else. May I remind you God's grace is undeserved toward all, but it makes none of us any better than anyone else.

Do you know God's grace? If you're saved, you do, or at least you should. But is your life consistent with the affect of the most powerful force in the universe? In other words, regardless of how bad you were before you were saved, is your life today a demonstration of God's transforming power?

All of us who are saved have been changed into a shadow of Christ's likeness. In Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, he calls this change a "new" creation. In the rest of this chapter (which we'll discuss tomorrow) we learn, as Paul Harvey says, "the rest of the story." There's a change coming that makes grace permanent and eternal. When we get to glory, we will not only see Jesus, we will be like Him.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( Jb. 8:1-11:20 1 Co. 15:1-28 Ps. 38:1-22 Pr. 21:28-29 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

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