Credentials Credentials Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal. 6:9 If anyone had the potential for weariness, it was Paul. His life had unstoppable momentum. He wanted nothing less from his time on earth than to preach Jesus. As long as he had an audience whether rich or poor, Jew or gentile, man or woman, then they would hear. He would endure shipwreck, hunger, floggings, and imprisonment to get his message out. Even in prison Paul had a way of finding open doors. Though Paul had every right to send out letters campaigning for his release, he would not afford himself the luxury of self-pity. Instead, he preached to guards and inmates and poured himself out in his letters. Paul would write 13 of the books in the New Testament, and many were written while he was in chains. It is easy to be impressed with Paul and even feel that his credentials for ministry are far beyond your reach. Paul saw himself quite differently. 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 effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. (1 Cor. 15:9-10) The credentials for Paul’s ministry were that he knew who he was and that God loved him still. Paul lived not to prove himself to God, but to prove God to the world. His passion in life was by and for the grace of God. His passion in death was to see the face behind the voice that called his name from heaven. -Have you become weary in doing good? -How has God’s grace worked within you? -How will you express God’s grace to the world around you?

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