GOD’S GRACE IN US
 
1Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am 
When Paul made that statement, he knew that what he had become through God’s grace was God’s doing, and not his doing. He also said it was not him doing the work of God, but it was the grace of Jesus working with him. That grace was God’s activity upon his soul that empowered him to respond to God in love and the surrender of his will and to know that Jesus was working through him every moment of his life.
Generally Grace can be seen working in someone’s life when they are doing some good thing that they love to do and they make it look easy even if it is very difficult.
In sporting terms if a tennis player saw Roger Federer playing tennis and compared themselves to Federer they would see tennis grace in action and wish they had that grace in their game.
Jesus lived a Divine life full of grace and truth within his limited humanity and people saw God at work in him and through him.
As a Pharisee Paul thought he was a top-class man of God before the grace of God took over his life.  
Philippians 3:4 If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
But then he found grace; And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles (Galatians 1:14) God’s grace for Paul was waiting for him from before he was born.
Before Paul found grace, he was part of the disorder and violence of a treacherous world in a dark time in history. Paul had seen himself as a religious man of great competence and great commitment to the cause of his Jewish tradition. He served God through his own ambition and strategies and he took great pride in his own achievements in persecuting Christians. Paul’s religion had not put God’s love or mercy in his heart or a humble and surrendered will towards the Father, or oneness in the Spirit with Jesus. For that he had to find grace in the eyes of the Lord through Jesus
After he found grace, he became part of God’s answer of love and light that overcame the darkness of that world. Jesus had overcome the darkness through his death and resurrection, and now he was sending forth messengers of his grace. God is doing the same thing today!
 
There are multitudes of people who are committed to the cause of doing things for God that have a similar zeal and passion for success like Paul did but have yet to find the grace of God for whatever good thing God has planned for them.
We might be inclined to think that Paul’s existence was of such significance and importance for what God called him to do, that the activity of God’s grace upon us could not be anything like God’s grace upon Paul. But we would be wrong to think that, as Paul wrote to Titus concerning the grace upon all of us through Jesus. For the grace of God that brings salvation has shone upon all mankind.
And while that grace is there waiting to shine, it is also there waiting to be found. The finding of grace came upon people in the Old Testament who saw the saving power of God and gave themselves to be an expression of that.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God also told Moses that he had found grace in his sight, and that he knew him by name. And in the New Testament we are urged to find his grace in times of need. 
Come boldly to the throne of grace that you may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
The finding and receiving of grace for us is through our faith, as we realise that we are not sufficient of ourselves to produce grace by ourselves, but we also realise that we have access to his grace in our insufficiency through faith. That grace releases his work upon us and through us.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1-2)
Grace is the loving activity of God upon a human soul, and when we know that we can access this grace through our faith we realize that it is the sufficiency for each one of us to do what God has called us to do – ‘called’ – kleo,  means invited- invited to love and serve and bless those people in our world. That grace upon us allows salvation to shine upon all those people that God places us amongst. Just like Paul we are what we are by the grace of God, and we do what we do by the grace of God – ‘set apart before we were born, and called by his grace, and pleased to reveal his Son in us’. 
That was and still is the Lord’s doing, and I pray we will see many such miracles in these days in which we live.
 
Satan gave humanity a rule of destruction to live by – a deadly commandment  – that you hate one another as I have hated you, and we are living in times where there are many obeying that commandment of fear and hatred. But God’s love which casts out all fear is on the rise today through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us his new Commandment – that you love one another as I have loved you. 
Paul tells us that it was God’s love that compelled his heart to serve him and to serve the people he was sent to. He writes Whatever we do, it is certainly not for our own gain but because Christ’s love compels us. (2Corinthians 5:14). 
Paul’s soul was bursting with that powerful love and he could hardly contain himself when he said, May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with the fulness of God himself (Ephesians 3:17-19).
Paul OSullivan  -  [email protected]
 
 

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