file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db941006.txt
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OUR DAILY  BREAD                  Thursday,  October 6,1994
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READ: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

                    "OUR IMAGE PROBLEM"

           By the grace of God I am what I am,
        and His grace toward me was not in vain.

                    1 Corinthians 15:10

People  who  clearly  understand  their  own  strengths  and
weaknesses  are better able to accept themselves as they are
and accomplish more in life.  They  can  identify  with  the
person  who  said,  "I'm  only someone, but I am someone.  I
can't do everything, but I can do something."

The apostle Paul recognized his liabilities, but he took his
God-given  assets  and  used  them  for eternal profit.  His
self-acceptance was based on  God's  acceptance  of  him  in
Christ.   God's  grace enabled him to affirm his apostleship
while living with the  painful  memory  of  persecuting  the
church (1 Cor. 15:9; 1 Tim. 1:13-15).

Paul didn't have a bad self-image when he called himself the
"least  of  the  apostles,"  nor  was it false humility that
prompted him to say he was "not worthy to be called an apos-
tle"  (1 Cor. 15:9).  Neither was it undue pride when he af-
firmed that he "labored more abundantly"  than  all  of  the
other  apostles (v.10).  He was simply recognizing his human
frailties while extolling the effectiveness of God's  grace.
He  knew  he  was able to serve God because he had been for-
given.

Trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord and being honest with our-
selves will enable us to say, "By the grace of God I am what
I am."  That's a mature kind of self-acceptance.

Author:  Dennis J. De Haan

 We all  have  faults  uniquely  ours,
 Those flaws  that  cause self-blame,
 But God accepts us as we are,
 And we must do the same.

                - Dennis  J.  De Haan

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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Our value is not in what we do for God
   but in what Christ has done for us.

The Bible in One Year:  Zechariah 7-10

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