18th May

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without any effect. No, I worked harder than all of them - yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Corinthians 15, 9 & 10

Accept oneself

The apostle Paul remembers that he had persecuted the church of God, something which the other apostles did not do. God did not disqualify him. On the contrary, in his grace he used Paul as a spokesman among the non Jewish after his conversion.

Paul looked at the reality and he knew that he could not delete his past as a persecutor. He perfectly accepted the work of God in his life. The change in his life was the result of God's grace.

It is very important for a Christian to accept himself how he is, how God has created him in his grace! He has to accept his body, the parents he had, his family, the family of his wife or her husband, the education he received. He has to accept all his past even the bad experiences for which he is still ashamed today.

Only when we remember God's grace we can stand at our right place in front him. God's grace either hinders us:

- to devalue ourselves with our own eyes. Am I not a child of God, who is loved by him such as I am and who is created by him and who shapes me every day as I need to be?

- or to pride ourselves with what we have. I don't deserve anything. Everything what I have I receive from the grace of God. God does not owe me anything, but he gives me his grace to be what I am and to do something for him.