Encouragement for Your Week: May 24-30
This Week’s Verse
"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me."
— 1 Corinthians 15:10 (NIV)
Devotion
If you’re anything like me, you probably have a mental list of all the ways you fall short. Maybe you aren't as patient as you "should" be, or you’re still wrestling with the same old weaknesses you had years ago. It’s easy to feel like a project that’s been stuck in the "under construction" phase for way too long.
But here is the reality: you aren't alone in that feeling.
Even the Apostle Paul—the man who wrote a huge chunk of the New Testament—dealt with a heavy sense of unworthiness. He openly admitted he was "the least of the apostles." He didn’t feel like he deserved his position because of his past mistakes. And honestly? On paper, he didn’t. On paper, neither do we.
Despite everything, God didn't look at Paul’s flaws and change His mind. He doesn't look at yours and reconsider, either.
God didn't choose you because you had the perfect resume or because you finally "got your act together." He chose you for His own reasons and His own purposes. It wasn’t a decision left up to your boss, your family, or even your own self-criticism. God knew exactly who He was getting when He called you His own.
When we look at people who seem to "do it all," it’s easy to get caught up in a cycle of comparison or pride. We either think, “I’m not working hard enough,” or we think, “Look at everything I’ve achieved on my own.”
Paul offers us a better perspective. He worked incredibly hard—harder than most, in fact—but he didn't take the credit. He realized that his energy, his endurance, and his success weren't just products of his own willpower. They were the results of grace in action.
Grace isn't just a safety net for when you mess up; it’s the fuel that helps you move forward.
Whether you feel it or not, God’s Spirit is sustaining you. When you manage to stay calm in a stressful meeting, or when you find the strength to serve others after a long day, that’s grace. It is the "anointing"—the specific empowerment of God—working through your very human hands.
You don't have to be perfect to be useful. You just have to be willing to let His grace do the heavy lifting.