Verse 10

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

Grace is the most beautiful word in the English language. And when translated, in those languages too. It’s even beautiful in German.

And in this verse, God’s grace to Paul is at the forefront, in the middle, and at the end. Grace through and through.

Grace is a much misunderstood term. Paul is not claiming that God has helped him to become a more skilled dancer, but rather, he’s using a different definition of the word grace.

Grace as a free gift. Grace as unmerited good will and favor. Grace as not getting the bad things that you deserve and then further being given something positive that you had not earned.

Grace as the opposite of karma.

Karma says you get what you deserve. Bad things happen (or will happen) to bad people. Good things happen (or will happen) to good people.

Grace says no to this system.

And that’s fantastic news.

Because, can any of us, honestly, truly look at your own heart, examine your true motives, and monitor your own judgments, impressions, and thoughts and claim to be in the “good person” category?

I can’t.

I think I used to put myself there, but I was naïve and dumb. I didn’t really examine my heart and maybe I was using the wrong comparison.

Am I good compared to Hitler? Absolutely. Pol Pot? Yeah.

But, what about other comparisons? In my life context, I know a lot of people that have been to jail. A lot.

And honestly, I cannot tell you with any confidence that I’m a better person than most of them. In similar circumstances, with similar backgrounds, and if pride was just as arrestable as drug possession, I would have been locked up a thousand times over.

Further, the determination of my moral value, is not comparison to authoriatarian dictators or other people, but comparison to the perfect holiness of God. And I know I do not live up to those standards. Not at all.

I’m not a good person.

And that’s why it is great news that grace not karma at work in the Universe.

God’s grace was big enough to redeem and wash clean Paul, who sought to murder, harass, and make lives miserable.

Paul didn’t get what he deserved.

And Paul didn’t fix himself. God rescued him from himself. God brought him into a place of relationship with God. God gave Paul’s life a purpose. And, God’s grace worked in and through Paul to make him an effective worker for the sake of the Gospel.

It is only by the grace of God that any follower of Christ can claim to be anything.

And that’s good news.