Galatians 2:9 NASB
[9] and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
I love what it says in this verse about James, Peter, and John recognizing the grace that had been given to Paul. The word “recognize” that’s used here, is actually a word that refers to experiential knowledge, not just informational knowledge. Paul is saying that the grace of God that had been given to him was something so obvious that it was experiential to others. Two things happen to me when I read a verse like this: for one, there is holy conviction, because I want my walk with the Lord to be like that. I want to so steward the wonders of the grace of God in my life that it is fully manifesting in such a way that people encounter Jesus when they come in contact with me. Secondly, this verse makes me dream holy dreams, because if Paul, who was just a man in whom Jesus dwelled, can experience and manifest the grace of the life of Christ in such profoundly obvious ways, then so can I. In this way, Paul doesn’t just instruct me with truth from Scripture, but he mentors me to keep searching out, discovering and manifesting more and more of the unsearchable riches of Christ in my life