READING:
One-year plan: Proverbs 25-28, Galatians 1
Two-year plan: 2 Samuel 22, John 1:43-2:12
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The apostle Paul, his salvation story, and his ministry are evidence of the grace of God—as are our stories and ministries. As Paul defends himself in Galatians 1 to remind them of the authenticity of his message, he outlines his story with three texts:
- “For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it.” (Gal 1:13)
- “But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles . . . .” (Gal 1:15-16)
- “They simply kept hearing: ‘He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.’ And they glorified God because of me.” (Gal 1:23-24)
Don’t miss the miraculous in these verses. It was God who initiated His call on Paul, and He had set Paul apart from his “mother’s womb.” At the right time, then, God worked through the miracle of Paul’s (Saul’s) encounter with Jesus in Acts 9 to make Himself known to the persecutor of the church. That message of the gospel then spread—Paul was now preaching the very message he had sought to eradicate! So great was his transformation that the believers could only glorify God.
That same life-changing, marvelous grace covers us as believers, too. Paul’s God is our God.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: What evidence of God’s grace do you see in your life?
DAILY PRAYER: “Father, I praise You. Amen.”
MONDAY’S READINGS:
One-year plan: Proverbs 29-31, Galatians 2
Two-year plan: 2 Samuel 23, John 2:13-25
*first published in 2020
