“To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things…” – Ephesians 3:8-9
Monday morning you rush out of your house — You’re late! With your belt barely on, you try to start your car only to realize you left your keys in the bathroom where you almost left your wallet which just so happens to be clenched (strangely) between your teeth. As you whip out of neighborhood in classic, “Tokyo Drift”-style and onto the freeway, you make it to your interview with 30 seconds to spare…Good job!
Your interview is with God. You’ve read qualifications online about other jobs of the same magnitude and you start to panic. You obviously have to have twice the experience, twice the good looks, and twice the charisma to be considered anywhere else. Essentially, you have given yourself zero chance to get the job.
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This is exactly how I feel in real life! God wants me to preach the gospel, the most sacred and beautiful message of redemption and grace in the history of mankind. How can I be qualified with the mistakes that I have made, the sins that I have committed and the communication skills of a sloth. (They nap a lot so when the female sloth is trying to talk to the male sloth, she’s probably frustrated because he never listens.) Creating a list of dis-qualifiers is what we as humans are famous for.
Hey God! look at this long list! I organized it and categorized it for you so it can be easier for you to see how unfit I am to follow your plan for my life.
God’s grace will always be bigger than our excuse.
One week ago, I was in Liberia meeting the Vice President of the country and preaching to thousands of people about the Gospel. I do not have a fancy degree, years of pedigree under a big named ministry. All I have is a passionate desire to preach the gospel of Jesus to the nations. All I keep thinking about is that we serve a big God! I had chills this week thinking about all of the promises that God gave me of giving the message of grace to 1 million people as a young boy coming to pass.
One of the fathers of our faith is Moses. What immediately comes to your mind when you think of Moses? Parting the Red Sea, turning wall king sticks into serpents, the Nile turning to blood — these events would have never been possible if Moses listened to his view of himself instead of God’s view of him.
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” – Exodus 3:11
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So… back to the interview. God sits there looking over your resume for a few seconds but it seems like an eternity. Finally with piercing eyes he looks up and says,
“You are not even close to being qualified to share my word to the world.”
“That is why you will be perfect for the job.”
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9
GREATER DEPTHS 