“When God made you, He broke the mold!” Have you ever heard someone say this? In today’s culture, there is a pervasive mindset that we are to celebrate the quirks, characteristics and values that make up our individual character. We like to use phrases such as: “I Am What I Am”, “You need to accept me for who I am” or “Take me or leave me”. Belying this attitude is not only the thought that the individual is not willing or able to change, but that one’s personal makeup (the good and the bad) should not be subjected to a critical eye (i.e. “judged”).

Unfortunately, that mindset sometimes creeps into our theology as well. When we ask people to “come to Jesus”, we are quick to follow it up with “and come as you are”. Now this is a true statement. After all, Jesus ate with publicans and sinners which were being judged by the religious elite. We either will come to Jesus as we are or we won’t be able to come at all! But note that nowhere in Scripture are we told to STAY THE SAME after coming to Him. Jesus did not just SIT with sinners and celebrate their faults – He SAVED them! He wanted them to be transformed by His power and grace in their lives. Perhaps there is no better picture of this than the Apostle Paul. Take a moment to read 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 for an understanding of how Paul viewed himself after coming to Christ. Here’s a summary of what he had to say:

1. I am NOT WORTHY – “I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle” (v. 9). Coming to Christ requires us to be exposed to our own unworthiness and acknowledge it with humility before the Lord. This is why the Pharisees often couldn’t accept him – they thought they had it all together. Yet Jesus said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). Yes, we are still called to repent!


2. I am NATURALLY AGAINST GOD – “because I persecuted the church of God.” (v. 9). No, you might not be persecuting or put Christians to death, but before you came to Christ you were not on the Lord’s side. And if you aren’t FOR HIM, you are AGAINST HIM. The good news is that God want’s you on His team and made a way for you to join it through Jesus Christ. For “if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10).


3. I am NOT WHAT I WAS – “by the grace of God I am what I am” (v. 10). After receiving God’s grace in your life, it is supposed to affect you. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be worth much. God wants you to be something new – a new creature in Jesus Christ. It’s not that you will become all that God wants you to be (as Paul tell us later in Philippians 4:13, “I count not myself to have apprehended”), but that you are now on the road to having different values, perspectives, lifestyles, and character because of God’s grace working in you.


4. I am WORKING HARD – “I laboured more abundantly than they all” (v. 10). A change in character takes dedication. Old habits die hard. Once you have experienced the grace of God in our lives, you must get busy in His work.

Change must be embraced as a key part of our discipleship in the Lord. There is no one who lives above this need to continually put your to death your former self. Paul certainly didn’t. Even as he wrote down the Scriptures that were being inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote – “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing… For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” (Romans 7:18-19). One thing is for sure – Paul didn’t just tell God “I am what I am”. Once he came to know Christ, he came to know his true wretched self. We each need to look into God’s spiritual mirror (His Word) and see ourselves as our Holy God sees us. Once we fully take in the view, our need for God’s grace will be self-evident and never again will we just be able to shrug our shoulders before Him and say, “I Am What I Am!”