Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." 8:31
OK, WHO ARE YOU? Take a minute and answer it... I guess my answers would be; lover of God, wife, mother, artist, friend, but what about QUALIFIED? That is NOT usually a word that pops up in my head when I think about myself and probably because I have at times been told by others and even myself that I am NOT QUALIFiED. I had been pondering the other day about how our scars can define us if we allow them to, when a friend called. As we were talking he shared with me how he had been substituting a class at a Christian school he works at and had been given the task of doing a short devotional with some high school students. Many of these kids have been at this school and church for a good part of their lives. The question in the devotional was, "are you a sinner saved by grace or are you a saint?" In six classes of students, not one said they were a saint. Quick - how would YOU answer that question? Really, we are both... we are sinners saved by grace (Eph 2:5) but once we realize our need for Him and accept His gift of salvation WE ARE SAINTS! Yep, I said it! YOU ARE A SAINT!!!! If you are His, you are a saint, there are over 90 references in the Bible that say so! Psalm 16:3 (amp) "As for the Godly (the saints) who are in the land, they are excellent, the noble, and the glorious, in whom is all my delight". or the same verse in the (NLT) "The Godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!" We don't get sainthood because of some set of rules that man came up with to qualify us, some measure of perfection that dictates who is "good enough" to warrant the title and a statue. The word of God calls those that are Godly, those after His heart, saints, and He takes pleasure, He is delighted with us! How amazing is it that the God of the universe is DELIGHTED with you! Does that mean you are perfect - uh, yeah, NO! But, it means that He loves you anyway, scars and all! That with a heart open to and seeking HIm, He is perfecting you, healing you and preparing you! Does it mean that you can live a life full of doing evil, of course not, but what it does mean is this... All those scars that have told you that you were disqualified, those wounds, those failures, those mistakes that made you feel like you could never please God are simply LIES!!!!! What it means is - it doesn't matter if the world has told you that you will never amount to much, that you have little to offer, God is not looking at you as scarred, He is looking at you through potential... Remember, when we have accepted what Jesus did for us on the cross, taking our sin upon Himself, we can stand before the Father as if we never sinned, a clean slate! "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Cor 5:17 To think on that we are "sinners saved by grace", is to remember what He has done for us, to be thankful for His amazing gift, but to move on to the revelation that you are a saint is to accept what He has done and live as the Godly, child of the King that you are! Even if right now you feel like you mess up more than anything else, even if you like feel like more of a sinner than a saint, you have the life of Jesus Himself within you! Maybe it is time to quit going by your feeling and trust what the word of God says about you! Your feelings can move you all over the place, but the TRUTH is what sets you free! His truth, pressing in to know Him, to experience His presence and to know His peace... In His presence is where you will find the REAL you, in His presence is where you will get victory over the scars and see the potential He sees in you - the potential you may not even see yourself.
Gideon... one of my favorite cases of potential no one saw but God. In Judges 6, the Israelites have been under the yoke of the Midianites for seven years. They lived in fear and starvation as every harvest and all their sources of food were stolen by their enemy. The people cried out to God for deliverance and God picks Mr. Unlikely. Here is Gideon, hiding in a winepress to beat out the wheat, hiding so the enemy will not find him out and steal his wheat. "And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, The Lord is with you, you mighty man of (fearless) courage." Judges 6:12 I mean excuse me? You mean the guy hiding in the wine press, THAT fearless mighty man of valor? And that is pretty much Gideon's response... "well ah, if God is with me, then why are we in this situation? um, sorry, but no man of valor here God!" He continued on to test to see if it was really God speaking to him! God goes on to work in his heart and Gideon BECOMES the mighty man of valor the Angel said he would be.
David was a young shepherd when he was called to be King... Mr. Unlikely! Moses was a murderer with a speech impediment hiding in the desert when God called him to lead his people to freedom and speak to Pharaoh... Mr. Unlikely! Josiah was an eight years old when he became king and turned his people back to the Lord... Mr. Unlikely! Esther was an poor orphan girl who became queen to save her people... Mrs. Unlikely! The list goes on and on... you can add ALL of the disciples to that list, ALL unlikely candidates for the tasks God had before them, honestly I can't think of one hero of the faith that would have been considered by man as the best choice for the job. To me the list proves several things... first off, broken pasts DO NOT disqualify us, secondly, I see a lack of natural ability actually as a basis FOR qualification! For me, I was absolutely terrified of public speaking, I would stress, sweat and stammer, I hated it! So God in His sense of humor gifts me with teaching and preaching - WHAT? Are you kidding me God? ME get up in front of people and speak? I look back on the fear and dread that I had over public speaking, and although it still can be intimidating, the zeal for God is so great in my heart that I can not WAIT to preach! There is nothing like the feeling of sharing the word of God and having others be filled with His presence and receive from Him by using me. This how I know it is HIS gifting... it is so far outside of my natural talents, that HE gets all the glory! Just like it should be.
So, Mr. or Ms. Unlikely, what is it God is calling YOU to? Do not let your scars tell you that you can not do it! Just add your name to the "Unlikely" list and jump on board for the ride of your life!
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