The way I live my life is full of contradictions. Perhaps that’s what some people would call hypocritical or some people might just call crazy. The transparency is this: I’m an imperfect human who loves a perfect God.
I think sometimes people don’t understand that perfection is not a condition of God’s unfailing love. Our hearts are laid bare for God to see and perform a good work within. All too often, our hearts are judged by other humans through brief moments rather than the entirety that lives within. Somehow we might come to believe that we are too fractured for God to restore. I know there have been times in my own life when I question what worth could I have for God? I cuss, I drink, I get upset quickly. I’m the opposite of what most people would consider usable. Maybe God would rather mold a more docile woman for his plan.
Or maybe, just maybe, God can use me. Maybe our purpose doesn’t have to be some big, elaborate thing. Maybe our purpose can be as simple as being in the right place at the right time to lead someone to Christ. God can call you right where you are, in the midst of the mess. Yes, God desires the best for our lives which can be found through a personal walk with Him. God doesn’t excuse our bad behavior for a bigger cause. Instead, God allows us free choice to make decisions that reflect His goodness.
I’ve known plenty of people who, by the worlds standards, didn’t have much to offer. They were sinners. Gasp, not sinners!?! Yes, horrible, wretched sinners who have the biggest hearts, the warrior spirits, and the humility of lambs. Those who most people would cast aside to opt for someone more closely aligned with their definition of a Christian, yet God sat squarely on His throne and said, “I call them.” The Jezebels, the Noahs, the Jacobs. He called them and so He has called each of us. Right where we are, as the old hymn sings, “just as I am.”
What if we spent more time building people up and allowing God to be God rather than assuming that God couldn’t possibly use them? Can God use the crackhead on the corner? Yep. Can God use the adulterer who has broken a family apart? You betcha. Can God use the drunk that curses with every breath? For sure. Just because we don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
But here’s the harder question for humans to answer, if God uses them and they don’t live a life on the straight and narrow, does that diminish the work God is doing? Surely, God is less than pleased but does turning the oven off after removing a cake cause the cake to disintegrate? No. Why not? Because the work and heat put into the cake has already done it’s job. The people who enjoy the slices of cake sing praises of its goodness. We don’t rant and rave because the oven is turned off. The oven doesn’t get up and run down the street. It’s still there, ever present and waiting to do the next good work. Ironically, God is the same way.
We may not always bake the cake. We may make an inedible creation and people may shake their heads in disgust. We may make bad decisions in life that cause us to be in undesirable circumstances. God can still use us. There is no greater praise to God than to rise above in spite of our perfection status. Is the praise of those we deem less worthy any less significant to God? It may surprise us to think that sometimes it takes someone who has walked the broken road to minister. Ministry doesn’t always occur from the pulpit or the women’s circle meetings.
Sometimes ministry is born in a place where imperfections abound and chaos surrounds. It doesn’t sound like too much of a challenge for God to do a good work in someone we deem as ready for it. But—WOW—the testimony it creates when God uses the broken to minister to the whole.
Messpot Diaries 