Nothing but Grace

By the grace of God

I am what I am,

and his grace toward me

was not in vain.

— St. Paul, 1st Corinthians 15:10

Robert Johnson’s credited with the song that includes the line, “It’s hard to tell, when all your love’s in vain.”

John Wesley found three kinds of God’s grace in Scripture and in everyday life—

that which chases after us, finds us ,and even makes faith itself possible: Prevenient Grace 

that which saves us through faith in Christ Jesus: Saving Grace

that which makes it possible for us to live into, and from the center of, our Christian faith: Sanctifying Grace

— And we have the testimony of innumerable followers of Christ Jesus that Robert Johnson’s lyrics do not apply here, and that God’s love toward us as evidenced in real life, is decidedly “not in vain.”

Neither is it “hard to tell.”

Or as St. Paul put it, By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. (1st Corinthians 15:10)

Say Amen and let somebody else in on such good news!