Willing to Go

Have you ever thought that you weren’t able to be used by God? That maybe your past would prevent you from being used in the future? Maybe you’ve thought that God will use someone else to accomplish His work, but you never thought it could be you? The Bible is filled with people who wouldn’t seem like people that God would choose to use, yet He does time and time again. I can think of many examples including Moses, Jonah, and even Peter, but today I’m going to talk about Paul.

Paul is a man that many people have heard about because of his radical transformation from Saul to Paul — from a persecutor of believers to a devoted follower of Christ. His story is absolutely thrilling and filled with so many God moments that it’s undeniable all the ways that God provided, sustained, and used Paul for His purposes and glory. He took one of the very people that would persecute His children and used him to lead many to faith in Jesus. There’s a section of Paul’s letter to Timothy that I find very encouraging for the times when you think that you’re life isn’t usable by God.

1 Timothy 1:12-14 says, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” What a testament to the goodness of God! Paul acknowledges that he was a blasphemer, persecutor, and an insolent opponent, but God who is rich in mercy chose to use him to do mighty things for the kingdom (Ephesians 2:4). God is so merciful! He takes the worst of us and transforms us into His hands and feet. We don’t have to be perfect to be used by God — we simply have to be willing to receive his mercy — which is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Life is filled with circumstances that might lead us to believe that we are unusable or that we have to be perfect before we can be used by God. It can be easy to forget that He can use any one of us to build His kingdom. I’ve often heard the saying “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called” and while that’s a catchy phrase, I think it misses a huge piece of the puzzle. The part that I think is missing is that we have to respond to the call in order to actually be used by Him. When He calls us to something, we have to be willing to say yes and then take the next steps that He asks us to. Paul wouldn’t have been useful or able to encourage and build the Kingdom of God had he refused to go where God told him to. God radically intervened in his life, but had he still chose to reject God’s call he never would’ve become the Paul that we read about today.

So, the question that I feel like you and I need to ask ourselves is not “Do I think God can use me?” but rather “Am I willing to answer the call when God does use me?” I believe that each and every one of us serves a unique purpose that begins when God forms us and intricately weaves us together (Psalm 139:14-16). He takes the time to intricately weave and form each and every one of us! He is the Creator and He chose to create YOU! He didn’t make a mistake when He created you and He certainly can use you to build His kingdom up and do mighty work for His glory! We might not all live lives like Paul filled with near death experiences, extreme persecution, and radical extreme circumstances. Some of us are stay at home moms or dads, retired, self-employed, and so on, but even in the mundane, seemingly uneventful parts of life, God can use us. He can use us to do seemingly small tasks and seemingly big tasks. Whatever it is that He calls us to, may we be ready and willing to do whatever it is that He asks.

Song of the Week: This week’s song is “Do Something” by Matthew West. Enjoy!