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Tag: weakness

The Miraculous Clothed In The Ordinary

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Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and yet…

  • He was born in a stable.
  • His first guests were not dignitaries but shepherds.
  • He grew up in an obscure town which many people did not expect anything good to emerge.
  • His family, at one point, thought he was insane and did not believe in him.
  • His closest friends did not understand the heart of his mission.
  • One of his friends stole from their common purse and betrayed him.
  • One of his friends denied even knowing him.
  • Shortly after Jesus had washed his disciples feet, some of them argued about who was going to be the greatest.
  • He grew tired.
  • He went without food and became hungry.
  • He had no place to lay his head.
  • He suffered humiliation, rejection, and severe physical pain on the cross.

The miraculous was clothed in the ordinary!

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God Uses The Unlikely

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Do you have a hero of the faith? Is it Paul? David? Abraham? Ruth? Esther? Or maybe it’s someone like Jim Elliot who was killed trying to share the gospel with the Auca Indians. Or it could be someone in your family like a mom, dad, or grandparent.

As you consider these heroes, do you ever say to yourself,  “I could never be a Paul, David, Esther or Jim Elliot. I’m too quiet and reserved to lead or start anything. I just don’t have what it takes to do anything like they did.”

First of all, I’m not sure God wants you to be Paul, David, Esther, etc…. He created you to be you. Second, just because you may not preach to thousands or have your name in the headlines of Christian ministry doesn’t mean God is not changing the world through you. Consider the ranch hand who said, “I may not be Billy Graham, but I can serve God in a blue collar job.”

Finally, I want us to consider who our heroes of the faith actually are. Are they not mere men and women in whom God used to glorify Himself? When you look at the lives of David, Paul, Esther, etc…, they were folks who did not have it all together. They weren’t super heroes.

We must remember this because sometimes we think we are not talented enough for God to use.  If you feel this way, then you need to consider 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

In this passage, Paul reminds those in Corinth that God does not necessarily use the strong and wise, but the weak and foolish. Consider the cross. What kind of god uses such a vile method of execution to show his glory? It was unthinkable, and yet today, it is the cross in which we boast.

So if you think you “ain’t got what it takes,” then you are in great shape! Why? Because God is not looking for self-reliant glory hounds, but humble, weak, servants in whom his glory can shine.

When we look at the lives of David, Paul, and anyone else who follows Christ, God wants us to see his glory, not theirs. We must remember that God does not and will not share his glory (see Isaiah 48:11).

Consider the words by Kent Hughes:

Life is not as it appears to be. We are led by today’s culture to imagine that God pitches his tent with the especially famous and powerful – those who can speak of ecstasies and miraculous power and who command large crowds as they jet from city to city and enjoy the spotlight of center stage – but it is not so. Christ pitches his tent with the unknown, the suffering shut-in, the anonymous pastor and missionary, the godly, quiet servants in the home and in the marketplace.

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Our Insufficiency Invites the Sufficiency of God

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Insightful words from Kent Hughes

Those whom God uses have always been aware of their insufficiency and weakness, be it Moses or Gideon or Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Paul or Peter or John. And it was their insufficiency that invited the sufficiency of God.

God is not looking for gifted people or people who are self-sufficient. He is looking for inadequate people who will give their weakness to him and open themselves to the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the transforming grace of the new covenant as it is ministered by Christ himself. 

If God is calling you, do not hide behind your weakness. I don’t know what he might be calling you to do–it might be a worldwide mission, it may be teaching a Sunday School class, it may be ministering to children, it may be reaching out in your neighborhood, it may be stepping up at work. But if he’s calling you, don’t hid behind your weakness–your weakness is the ground for his calling. Follow God, and he will use your weakness as an occasion for his power.

And if you are felling terrifying stirrings within your soul as he nudges you outside your comfort zone, where you will be out of your depth, give your weakness to him and accept his sufficiency.

God uses people who are weak because of their unique ability to depend upon him. 

 

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