1 Corinthians 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Charles Spurgeon, one of my all-time favourite preachers, had an impossible weekly itinerary. Every week, he preached four to ten times, read six meaty books, revised sermons for publication, lectured, edited a monthly magazine. In his spare time, he wrote about 150 books. This was on top of shepherding the largest Protestant megachurch in the world then (yet he knew all 6,000 members by name), directing a theological college, running an orphanage, and overseeing six Christian charities. As someone has said, he accomplished three lifetimes of work in his fifty-seven years of earthly life. When someone once asked him how he could do the work of two men, he responded, “Because we are two, Christ and I.”
This was the same case for Paul. In his own admission, he worked harder than all the other apostles. Yet he was quick to admit that it was not him but the grace of God that was with him. God’s grace works in us to strengthen so that we are able to accomplish above and beyond our limited human strength. If we are to accomplish anything significant for the Lord, then we must look to Him for strength, we must rely on his grace. And as the apostle Paul reminds us, God’s grace towards us is never in vain. Whatever weaknesses encumber us, we must like Paul declare:
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)
Reflections
1. When was the last time you did something that your natural human strength could not accomplish?
2. How will you, from today, apply this lesson in your life?
