God’s Work

In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand.”
Romans 15:17-21
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God’s Work
We like to credit ourselves for our success. And to some extent, we do play a role in those earthly triumphs. Where we stumble, though, is when we attempt to take credit for our salvation. That somehow, we had a hand in being saved. Whether it was a decision we made, a prayer we prayed, or any number of actions we took on our own, we want to focus on that as the important part of our salvation. St. Paul reminds us of the truth though. Apart from God’s intervention through servants such as Paul, we would not have seen, heard, or understood God’s grace. Christ’s servants are to respond to His calling and use their gifts in dedicated service as Paul did. Anything we do is simply “what Christ has accomplished through” us. It is all by grace and is sanctified and empowered by the Holy Spirit. May we praise God that the message of His grace has reached us and that we have come to believe it by the power of His Holy Spirit. May He use us and the gifts He has given to us as an acceptable offering to Him.