"But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10) What we
are in Christ is because of God's life and power which has been at work
in us. No one can make himself a great man of God. Even the callings to
be this or to do that in God's Kingdom are by grace (Galatians 1:6).
Paul said that God called Him by His grace from His mother's womb
(Galatians 1:15).
This means that it was God, not Paul, who initiated
Paul's being chosen for apostolic ministry. In a similar way, Jeremiah
was called from His mother's womb to be a prophet to the nations
(Jeremiah
1:5). We cannot become special ministers of God without His
calling.
We can only be what God gives us grace to be. If through His
grace we fulfil a special function in God's Kingdom, then it was not on
the basis of our merit and work, but rather, because of God's grace -
God's gift, God's favour.
Does this leave us without responsibility before God? No, it is very important for us to take hold of the grace of God, so that we can be what God intends us to be. We will see more on this in a later section
Does this leave us without responsibility before God? No, it is very important for us to take hold of the grace of God, so that we can be what God intends us to be. We will see more on this in a later section