“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
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Intensity is necessary to succeed in sports, from physical force to focus on and off the field. Though this can often be good, there are sides to intensity that aren’t as appealing, like screaming coaches, players berating officials, illegal plays, or humiliating a player when a mistake is made.
As humans, athletes will all make mistakes and miss a play or fall short of expectations. Some grace is needed or players may quit out of discouragement, or lose the ability to perform well because of the extreme pressure to not make a mistake.
The best coaches extend some mercy to their players while driving them to do their best. A little bit of grace builds strong relationships for the entire playing career of athletes.
In so many ways, we can apply these concepts to our walk with God. We can be thankful for our gracious Father because we’d be hopeless without His marvelous and infinite grace. In spite of our many shortcomings, Jesus came down to where we are to save our broken world, and He encourages us to grow in His likeness so we can be our best.
The apostle Paul was shocked when he woke up from his spiritual blindness and saw how far Jesus brought him from Satan’s clutches to God’s Kingdom of light (1 Timothy 1:13-15). His list of guilt was long and God’s grace was abundant.
Surely, Paul knew he didn’t deserve to stand near God or be one of His messengers, but he was so grateful for God’s grace that he was spurred on to work harder than anyone else, acknowledging it was only through the grace of God that was with him (1 Corinthians 15:9-10). He kept going by grace.
We haven’t understood grace unless it puts us into active work for the Lord. We can’t repay God for His grace, but we can magnify grace by living a Godly life.
— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia
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