"By the Grace of God I Am What I Am"

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Last night and again this morning, 1 Cor 15 came alive to me: "By the Grace of God I Am What I Am." It is only by His grace that I'm even here today, let alone have all the blessings afforded to me by the death of my Savior. I have truly mislooked grace, and called it a misfortune that I am what I am. But I'm awoken now in awareness of the lens of negativity and worldly standards of performance by which I've been criticizing and beating myself down. God makes no mistakes and I've been insulting Him with every single self-belittling thought. As Oswald Chambers writes, "To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us...Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him." It's funny how upside down and shaken up this world is compared to the Kingdom. What this world sees as humility is an insult to God and what He paid for us to have, and what is humility to God is outright unwarranted to the world. But all that matters is what we look like to Him; it's only our personal relationship with the lover of our souls that has any worth in the end. I'm in deep repentance for insulting Him through my self-deprecation. It's only by His grace that I can say that I'm even here, saved and sanctified, and though this kind of statement may be deemed unfoundless boasting to the world, it is humble acknowledgment of the Son's resurrecting power to God. When I acknowledge this, I'm acknowledging His power and His death on the cross that paid for all my sins. Are you beating yourself down for your shortcomings? Christ paid for you to have all you have, so take pride that He made you exactly the way He wanted. It is an acknowledgment of true humility.

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