updates:
the shop is live! check out our merch here.
the well is developing! try our new prototype here.
the tent is coming! rsvp here.
greetings, my brothers and sisters in Christ. We bless God for who He is and for having made us to be in Him.
i want to open this letter, by reading these words from Paul.
1 Corinthians 15:10 (ESV)
10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
when you study the Bible, you have to do it contextually. meaning groups of text. the chapters are common groups, followed by the books, testaments, and the Bible.
let’s use the chapter’s context here.
1 Corinthians 15 is one of the places where the Gospel is clearly defined. if anyone ever asks you to define the Gospel, remember 1 Corinthians 15.
to give us a bit more context in why Paul is making these statements, let’s summarize the three chapters preceding it.
1 Corinthians 12 describes spiritual gifts.
1 Corinthians 13 describes the expression of love.
1 Corinthians 14 describes the administration of gifts.
so by the time we get to 15, we know that Paul is making a point that none of this is his doing. everything is by God, for God.
so it all makes sense when you read chapter 15, starting at verse 1.
please read every one of these words. they are from God. if you are bored by these words, then we have bigger problems to deal with.
1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (ESV)
1Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,
2and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
11Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
everything is by God, for God.
my secret, i’ve suffered from impostor syndrome for most of my life, even now.
i’ve entered some rooms and been in some places where i looked around and said to myself, “i don’t belong here”.
it’s not false humility, i seriously doubted my belonging there.
it took me a while to realize the cure to impostor syndrome, is grace.
Paul had impostor syndrome.
1 Corinthians 15:9 (ESV)
9For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
and when i searched the scriptures some more, i realized that i wasn’t just Paul.
next to God, we will all feel small. we should.
John had a similar experience.
Acts 13:25 (ESV)
25And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
How about Peter?
Luke 5:8 (ESV)
8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
i say all of this to say, you don’t have to feel worthy.
He is worthy. He is worthy enough.
the point we all need to get to as Believers is finding our worth, in Him.
we are who we are, only by His grace. that inadequacy, self-doubt, and impostor syndrome can not stand under the light of God’s word and His statements about you.
let us round up with this wonderful promise of God, communicated through His servant Paul.
Romans 8:30 (ESV)
30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
let us pray that we see more grace. the only impostor is the enemy, who masquerades as an angel of light. we are the righteousness of Christ.
if God be for you, who can be against you? no one, not even yourself.
you brother in Christ,
o.