Many of us like to think that we deserve to be saved, that God owes us a favour. We have an inflated opinion of ourselves. The way to God, however, is not by our virtue and our good deeds (Isaiah reminds us that ‘all our righteous acts are as filthy rags’ (Is 64:6)), but by grace – the unmerited, undeserved, lavish favour of God.
Paul lived with a real sense of God’s grace. He looks back on his previous actions, persecuting the church of God and pursuing his own righteousness (see Phil 3:1-14, 1 Tim 1:15-16), with horror and admits that his salvation is all of grace. In 1 Cor 15:9 he says ‘I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.’ There is no longer any sense of self-achievement in Paul; instead, he admits that ‘by the grace of God I am what I am.’ (1 Cor 15:10)
All of us need to absorb this truth. Whether we look back on our past with shame or pride, grace is a great leveller. All of us come to Christ in the same way. All of us are saved ‘by grace, through faith… not by works, so that no one can boast.’ (Eph 2:8-9) None of us will be able to stand before God in our own righteousness, but none of us have to. We can know freedom from condemnation (Rom 8:1); we can boldly approach the throne of grace (Heb 4:16); we can be sure that we are accepted, forgiven, loved and welcomed into the arms of God.
Paul knows that there is a paradox here too: God’s grace and our effort somehow go hand in hand (see 1 Cor 15:10, Phil 2:12-13). This is hard to fathom, and theologians traditionally tend to pull at the extremes, but in essence, ‘I am what I am’ is not licence to sin; it is the contentment of knowing we are made in God’s image and loved as we are, yet it is also the motivation to change. Just as Popeye grew strong when he ate spinach, we grow strong when we meditate on, focus on and receive God’s grace. Keith Krell says, ‘We need to gobble up grace and let God empower us to accomplish His work in and through us.’ How this divine partnership works is a mystery, but grace needs to be the scarlet thread that runs through our lives.
Blue vein cheeses have had cultures of the mould Penicillium added so that the final product is spotted or veined throughout with blue. Grace is rather like that blue vein. It needs to define us; it needs to mould us; it needs to be at the very centre of who we are, so that our effort and striving are not in vain.
