'Just a Mom's' View

These 5 powerful words were once whispered into my ear at one of the lowest points of my life. I felt like the lowest of low. I had failed to be who I was aiming to be in Christ. I had let my Savior down and let others down as well. How could God use such a flawed individual as myself?

BUT GOD.

God used this friend to speak 5 words to me that have echoed in my soul for over a decade (and by the way, Moana does not get the credit for these words). God knew before the foundation of the world what ups and downs I would have throughout my life as a Christian. Yet He still decided to love and save me. He still sent His Son to die for me and to pay the penalty for every mistake I would ever make. And He decided that He would use me, despite my flaws and despite my shortcomings. I would no longer be defined by anything I had done, but by what Christ had done FOR me.

The phrase, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called,” has been such an encouragement to me over the years I’ve spent in ministry. Do you ever feel “not good enough”? Great! Because you aren’t. Neither am I. None of us are.

BUT GOD.

God is good enough. He’s more than good enough. This is so opposite from our world today, isn’t it? A selfie-focused, humanistic world that shouts, “She believed she could so she did,” “Just do you,” “Look inside yourself,” “Follow your heart,” “You can do anything if you put your mind to it.” I politely beg to differ. It’s ONLY because of Christ that we can do anything. He’s the One who has put us on this earth, He’s the One who has given us a purpose, and He’s the One who will use us despite what we’ve done. He will receive the glory and we will thereby fulfill the purpose for even having breath in our lungs.

Philippians 1:6 is my life verse. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you WILL PERFORM IT until the day of Jesus Christ.” Wow! So you mean, even if I don’t have crazy talent, or even if I don’t fit the mold ,or even if I’ve messed up, or even if I’ve had to come back to the Lord for what seems like the millionth time to ask forgiveness? Even if I’ve offended someone? Even if I’ve failed to spend the time in prayer that I needed to?

Yes. Absolutely yes.

Has He begun His good work in you? Have you repented of your sins and trusted Christ as your Savior? Then He has PROMISED you that He’s not through with you yet. If you’re still breathing, you still have a purpose. Have you ever murdered someone after committing adultery with their spouse? Yeah. Sounds crazy, right? And yet we all know that the “man after God’s own heart,” King David, had allowed himself to depart from God’s ways and sink low enough to commit such egregious sins.

BUT GOD.

God still loved David, still used him in mighty ways, and still allowed him to be in the line of Jesus Christ Himself. Wow! King David sinned royally (pun intended) many times, but you know what He was really great at? Repentance. Psalm chapter 51 contains the most breathtaking words of repentance you’ll ever read. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me… Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation… Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” (Psalm 51:10, 11a &13).

David knew, even in the midst of everything that was going on, that God had the power to wash Him clean, to restore the joy of salvation that he had lost along the way, and then to actually USE HIM to bring other sinners to God. As soon as you finish reading this, go read Psalm 51. Pray those words to the Lord with all of your heart and then believe that God is just that powerful…and just that amazing—amazing enough to keep His promises!

Did His Word not say, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us…”? (Psalm 103:12) So why do we focus on our failures and waste away our years thinking of what might have been? God does not define us by our mistakes or shortcomings. So why do we? Are we better than our Creator Himself? It’s often at the lowest parts of our lives that we finally can get over ourselves enough to realize just how deeply God loves us and just how much we really need Him. Let’s start defining ourselves the way God does. God CAN use us. God WILL use us. REPENT like David. REMEMBER how powerful God is and be READY to be used wherever God sees fit – for His honor and glory… “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”