NEVER DISQUALIFIED

NEVER DISQUALIFIED
Read: Exodus 3
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
Voltaire once said, “Perfect is the enemy of good.”
A recent email conversation with my old youth pastor brought to mind this famous utterance, because it is so applicable to an issue I – and I have to imagine many others – struggle with often.
Since I was a teenager, I felt drawn into a ministerial role, something which I have already spent time in these pages writing about. However, I never really heeded or explored the call much, and spent a lot of my 20’s as a wanderer, a “prodigal” if you will. I took many wrong turns, and made several grievous mistakes I have spent a lot of the last years trying to reconcile in my own heart.
As I got into my mid-thirties and started to feel that pull to minister renewed, I could never really escape the feeling that the sins of my past were a barrier to that. Because of the things I’d done, I never felt “qualified” to serve in such a capacity. In fact, to carry that a step further, I have always felt my past disqualified me from being used by God in a ministerial role.
But then the pastor, who is a longtime mentor of mine, and an example of this himself, told me essentially that instead of looking at my past as a barrier to ministry, perhaps I ought to look at it as a catalyst for ministry, and for what roles the Lord might want to lead me into.
I think sometimes we get caught in the trap of believing that we have to be perfect and have everything figured out for God to use us in the ways He wants to use us. We fail to follow leadings, because we see ourselves as too broken to be effective in areas the Lord leads us into.
In short, the Devil wants us to believe that our past disqualifies us from being ministers of the gospel.
But the pages of Scripture are full of fallen, broken individuals that the Lord took, transformed, and used in mighty, and often miraculous, ways to accomplish his plan and be ministers of His word. From Moses, to David, to Peter and Paul, and countless others in between, God showed time and again there is no mistake too great for Him to overcome with grace, to transform us and do great things through us.
Yes, as believers, we are always to strive for holiness. We are always to pursue God and aim to be more like Him everyday. But we also need to understand that our past – our stumbles and sins – do not disqualify us from His grace, and do not prevent us from being transformed and used by Him.
In fact, it may be those very stumbles that the Lord uses to transform the world around you in ways greater than you could ever imagine!
Prayer: Lord, help me not to be trapped by thinking my past will keep you from using me. Instead, help me see how my mistakes can be a catalyst for ministering to the lost and pursuing the calling you have for my life.



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