In writing about the proof of the resurrection, Paul listed several witnesses (over five hundred people) who saw Christ after He was raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:5-7). The last of the witnesses he mentioned was himself: “And last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also” (1 Corinthians 15:8).
However, Paul did not mention this as a reason to boast over others. Immediately after mentioning the Lord’s appearance to him, Paul said, “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (1 Corinthians 15:9).
Prior to becoming a disciple and an apostle, Paul was a persecutor of the church. He wrote elsewhere that he was “now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy” (Galatians 1:23). How was someone like Paul able to be accepted by Christ and a proclaimer of the gospel message?
Paul explained: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Though we may not have persecuted the church as Paul did, all of us were lost in sin. Salvation is only possible by the grace of God. And our response needs to be the same as his – to now labor diligently in the cause of Christ.
So appreciate the grace of God. We can be saved despite all that we have done. Let us now gratefully serve Him.