God doesn't call a lot of people that the world would consider to be wise, noble, or mighty. He calls a few that fill those qualifications but not as many as you think. The fact is, God will use anyone who will yield their self to Him and His will.
1st Corinthians 1:26 says, "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." What Paul is trying to get you and I to understand is that the vast majority of people God chooses are a complete surprise to everyone else. God's choices are generally not on our "A" list of people.
Don't agree with me? Think about what Paul wrote about himself in 1st Corinthians 15 1:11 (ESV), “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” Paul was a persecutor of Christians. In fact, he was so filled with hatred for Christians and the message of Christ that he went to foreign cities to have believers arrested, families split apart, Christians jailed, beaten, and even at time had them executed. And God chose him to be his voice to the people. The voice to spread the message he was trying to kill.
This was so astonishing to many in the church that they wouldn't receive Paul when he first started out in his ministry. Frankly, I think that they were afraid it was a trick. It took them a good while to understand that God had actually saved him and was using him.
If you had asked Peter or John to choose someone to carry on the message to the Gentiles I can almost promise it wouldn't have been Paul. If he was going on a job interview with the credentials he had built for himself over the past few years no church would have hired him as their pastor. But it wasn't up to Peter or John. It isn't even up to us. It is up to God to choose whom it is that He calls to be His mouthpiece in our world. I love that the Lord chooses the the unexpected to carry on His important work. I love that He chooses the ones that society would automatically look over.
He did it with twelve fisherman and he did it with a man that had persecuted and killed many of his followers. He did it with a man that is a broken and sinful creature at his core. One that if you knew him in the past, would say there goes an angry excuse for a human being. There is no way that God would ever use that guy....
Friends, if God can use a broken and angry man like me to write a blog that reaches people every single day through the words that I am inspired to write then He can use you too. Just be humble and allow Him to use you. Don't allow yourself to see the world through the lenses of your own eyes. Use the lenses that God and the Holy Spirit can provide.
1st Corinthians 1:26 says, "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." What Paul is trying to get you and I to understand is that the vast majority of people God chooses are a complete surprise to everyone else. God's choices are generally not on our "A" list of people.
Don't agree with me? Think about what Paul wrote about himself in 1st Corinthians 15 1:11 (ESV), “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” Paul was a persecutor of Christians. In fact, he was so filled with hatred for Christians and the message of Christ that he went to foreign cities to have believers arrested, families split apart, Christians jailed, beaten, and even at time had them executed. And God chose him to be his voice to the people. The voice to spread the message he was trying to kill.
This was so astonishing to many in the church that they wouldn't receive Paul when he first started out in his ministry. Frankly, I think that they were afraid it was a trick. It took them a good while to understand that God had actually saved him and was using him.
If you had asked Peter or John to choose someone to carry on the message to the Gentiles I can almost promise it wouldn't have been Paul. If he was going on a job interview with the credentials he had built for himself over the past few years no church would have hired him as their pastor. But it wasn't up to Peter or John. It isn't even up to us. It is up to God to choose whom it is that He calls to be His mouthpiece in our world. I love that the Lord chooses the the unexpected to carry on His important work. I love that He chooses the ones that society would automatically look over.
He did it with twelve fisherman and he did it with a man that had persecuted and killed many of his followers. He did it with a man that is a broken and sinful creature at his core. One that if you knew him in the past, would say there goes an angry excuse for a human being. There is no way that God would ever use that guy....
Friends, if God can use a broken and angry man like me to write a blog that reaches people every single day through the words that I am inspired to write then He can use you too. Just be humble and allow Him to use you. Don't allow yourself to see the world through the lenses of your own eyes. Use the lenses that God and the Holy Spirit can provide.
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