I am what I am . . .

Complements make me feel uncomfortable. This is understandable if they are Insincere, butter-up remarks, but even genuine, well-intentioned words bother me too. Sometimes they stroke my vanity and desire to bathe in the flattery, yet I don’t like it. A swelled head is often dangerous and a warning of a fall soon to come.

Once I paid a compliment to a Christian friend and she quoted: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:17)

I liked that, yet the words feel awkward to my mouth. This is not the way I talk. A better example was the time someone complemented my rock garden and I lifted my hands in a gesture of glory to God. The other person grinned and nodded. That gesture felt right and was well received, yet is not always possible — for instance in a telephone conversation. Besides, I want to use Scripture. Truth from God has a way of ringing its own bell.

Today I read this passage and God gives me an answer to those who give me credit when it should go to God . . .

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 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.” (1 Corinthians 15:3–10)

By the grace of God, I am what I am. Right! Whatever I do well, it is not because of any special skill or practice that I’ve developed; it is the grace of God. I could have been born to a family with less love, married to a man who abuses me, living in a situation of great poverty. I could have great health problems, physical deformities, a low IQ and no common sense at all, but by the grace of God, my life is filled with abundance and blessed.

The best of all is that I am forgiven. My sin is washed away, and I am declared righteous in Christ. I once was lost and far from God, but grace made me His child. I shudder thinking about what might have happened had God not been gracious to me. God reminds me of what Paul wrote to those who had awful sin in their lives. He gave a list of those sins, then said to them:

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11)

What good news! What marvelous news! Once they lived sin-filled lives, but Jesus saved them! And I know that even if my situation in life was the opposite of all that it is, that is, even if I were less blessed with abundance and good things, I would still have Jesus. I would still be able to say — by the grace of God I am what I am. I am a person of joy, saved and in love with Jesus Christ. I have all I need — His grace has made it so.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, the next time someone says ‘good for you’ about anything, remind me to reply in such a way that You are glorified, for You are worthy to receive glory. I know that in some cases a simple ‘thank you’ is appropriate, but I’d rather acknowledge that grace is the only reason for any good thing in my life, the only reason I am a saved and blessed person. I am what I am because of Your grace, because of You!

Trusting Jesus with death means trusting Him with life

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me . . .  (Psalm 23:4)

Every issue and problem in life is resolved in Jesus Christ. This is a bold and all-encompassing statement, but true. Moral issues are easily seen as needing the example of Jesus as well as His life as my power to live righteously, but so also with lesser decisions and those that involve life and death, joy and suffering. When I don’t know what to do or how to think about anything, my answer is in Him. I need to again and always look at His life, but also His death and resurrection.

When I wonder about the end and what that will be like, the Bible tells me my body is like a seed, “sown in dishonor —raised in glory . . .  sown in weakness — raised in power . . .  sown a natural body —raised a spiritual body” and points to Jesus in comparison to Adam, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”

God’s Word says I bore the image of the first man, but I will “also bear the image of the man of heaven” for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” This will happen because “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”

On that day, “when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’” Death has the sting of sin . . . but I thank God for He “gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:43–57)

Jesus was crucified, died and was buried, but “He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3–9) Because He lives, I know that my greatest puzzle and even greatest fear is solved and conquered. As I read about His return from the grave, I am excited about the prospect of my own life from death.

Last night we discussed the resurrection with friends and how the people in Bible times thought it was nonsense, just as most today respond to this message. Even though medical science has restored those who seemed dead, who has every walked out of a tomb after three days?

But Jesus did, and “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” (1 Corinthians 15:3–10)

Because I can look to Jesus as the instigator of life (He created all things) and as the One who conquered death and walked out of His tomb, then I can also trust Him to wisely direct me with all problems, perplexities, decisions, events, and everything else in between.