7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
Read that verse again, slowly this time. Paul is reflecting on his salvation history. He recognized it as a gift given to him by the Lord. No one don’t deserve gifts. And what is the content of that gift: God’s grace. And of course you can’t earn grace either. So the means and the content of what Paul received that changed him from a persecutor of Jesus-followers to a preacher of Jesus was something he could not earn. In fact, Paul was pursuing exactly the opposite ends when the Lord interrupted his life. Becoming a follower of Jesus was the last thing on his mind. He wanted to stamp out every spark of Jesus from the world. He couldn’t stand the sight of Jesus-followers. The message was repugnant to him. And yet, God’s power was able to work on his hard heart. The same power that created the universe cared enough about Paul that he confronted him and ultimately changed his heart. We must continually remember that this journey of faith is not about us. It is God giving us gifts of grace. It is about the miraculous power of God to change us and rescue us from ourselves. His power is always available to us. And the Lord is always wanting to change us into His image and likeness. I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of growing to do. That growth takes place through the gift of grace. We start our walk of faith by grace and we continue to walk by grace.
The Arnold Journey 