1 Corinthians 15:10 “I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

Serving God was no picnic for the Apostle Paul. It wasn’t for any of the men Jesus sent to make disciples out of the whole world. When Paul talks about working hard here, he is not talking about mere activity. The word he chooses for work highlights the unpleasant features of working. This is toil. This is labor. Work involves sweat, and sore muscles, and tired bodies.

In his next letter to the Christians in Corinth, Paul outlines some of the things he suffered. There were plots on his life and attempts to kill him. They took him to court. They flogged him. They stoned him. They beat him with rods. Traveling exposed him to heat and cold, and bandits and shipwrecks. At times he went without food or sleep. Life as a traveling missionary was hard.

Paul’s hard work and sacrifice put me to shame for my complaints about life as a Christian minister. Maybe my hip is a little sore after leaving flyers at a couple hundred homes. I don’t like it when someone is a rude to me at the door.

But in over thirty years of ministry no one has threatened my life or physically touched me. I have known some weeks with long working hours, especially around Christmas and Easter. Once in a while someone needs a pastor’s attention in the middle of the night. But for the most part meals and sleep have come on a regular schedule in my life.

God doesn’t ask us to go looking for hardships like Paul suffered in his gospel work. There is no virtue in enduring artificial or self-made sacrifices.

But grace has the power to make us ready if they come. Paul didn’t put up with the pain or unpleasantries because he felt guilty about his past. He wasn’t forced and driven to it under threat against his will. He didn’t do it because he was just such a swell guy.

Grace, the undeserved love of God in giving us his Son and forgiving our sins, was working in him, like it is working in us. Paul worked hard, “yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” Grace makes us different people, all of us. Whether ancient apostle or modern minister, whether steady church volunteer or simple person in the pew, God’s grace is taking everything we say and do and making it part of our Christian witness.

The better we know that grace, the harder we will work in service to the Lord who gave it to us.