I am what I am

Here are a few thoughts that I shared with a group of leaders and youth pastors recently.We all know the importance of knowing WHO you are. If we don't know this, there are plenty of people and circumstances that will be happy to define that for us.Very few of us stop and ask the question, "WHY am I who I am?" If we do, our answer is often tied to our job, our success, our gifts or something else.[quote align="center" color="#999999"]Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.Ephesians 3:7[/quote]Paul understood something. He was a minister of the gospel by God's GRACE. If anyone understood that he didn't earn or deserve to be doing what he was doing, it was him. Think about his words in 1 Corinthians 15:10:"But 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."[quote align="center" color="#999999"]by the grace of God I am what I am[/quote]When we really embrace the truth that we are who we are by the grace of God it eliminates room for some things in our lives.There is no room to COMPAREIf I am who I am completely by the grace of God, that means the same is true for others. Instead of being insecure around people who are doing things "bigger" than me, seem more important than me, etc., I can be confident. Why? I am who I am by God's grace. They are who they are by God's grace too.There is no room for PRIDEIf what is entrusted to me by God's grace, there really is no room for me to develop a pride about it. If what I am is by God's grace, what He has given me is also by His grace. It's not about me. I didn't earn this. I didn't deserve it. Therefore I can't take the glory for it!There is no room for DESPAIRThe danger in thinking it is all about us is when things don't go as well as we had hoped. Even when Paul faced incredible adversity and at times a lack of fruit in ministry (remember when the people didn't like him so the drug him out of the city and piled stones on him until they thought he was dead? And you thought your youth service was rough last week...) he didn't despair. He kept on going. Why? He understood that he wasn't the qualifier of it all - it was God's grace that he was who he was and he did what he did. What are some other areas that the grace of God eliminates room for in our lives?