Today I was reading in Ephesians chapter 3. I want to highlight a few verses here.
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles — assuming you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that he gave me for you. (Eph. 3:1-2 CSB)
I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power. This grace was given to me – the least of all the saints – to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. (Eph. 3:7-9 CSB)
In this chapter and particularly in these verses Paul is saying that he has been given the power to preach and to proclaim by the gifting of God’s grace. Now I know I can be guilty of thinking of Paul as someone who is way up there on a pedestal. Paul was the author of most of the New Testament and so many of our direction of how to live this christian life come from his writings. So I can tend to put him way up on a pedestal as someone who I can have nothing truly in common with. At least Paul after his conversion, that is. But Paul was just a man, we are not meant to put him on the pedestal. Truly verses like this where Paul points out that his preaching of the gospel is nothing more than a gifting of God’s grace on his life is what validates this point. So if Paul’s writings are meant to give us direction and to give us purpose in this life what can we glean from these passages.
Again, I come to you as a simple minded woman but I do believe that if God can gift Paul with grace to preach that God is gifting me with grace for something. And I believe that this means that God gifts all of us with grace for — something. I believe that sometimes God has to gift me with grace to love certain people. God gifted Paul with grace to love the gentiles, some of the very people he had persecuted in his former life. Can God gift me with grace to love people that maybe I, in my humanness do not find very lovable. Paul states here that God gifted him with the grace to proclaim Christ to the gentiles. God gifted him with his calling. I believe God is gifting me with the grace to do things for Him that I, again, in my humanness would not feel qualified to do. And I truly believe that if God is gifting Paul with grace to love the gentiles and to accomplish His will that He will gift me with grace to love others and to accomplish the things that He has called me to do. I believe He will also gift you with grace to love others and to accomplish His will!
Please pray today for educators and students! Summertime is upon us! School years are wrapping up, however different it seems. It’s truly time to start looking ahead!
Restore 