Whenever someone makes it big like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or President Obama, we frequently like to find out how they got there. We ask what did you do? How did you prepare? What single piece of advice would you give to someone trying to do what you’ve done?
While all of these questions are valid questions, and looking up to heroes is not wrong, Paul in his letter to the Ephesians tells of how he became who he was. He writes in Ephesians 3:7 , “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.” (NIV)
The amazing part of this verse to me is that Paul connects his “success” from an outward perspective to God’s grace in his life, not his own doing. And what this and the stories of other apostles like Peter who repeatedly messed but God still used, is that it tells me that the most broken and least broken people in the eyes of us can still be used by God for great things.
Remember that no matter who you are, as a Christian you are covered by the grace of God and that if we are willing to be used, we can be used by Him for things we can’t even plan or dream of.