EXTRAORDINARY POTENTIAL

There are times when I’ve wondered, "Why and how does God take an ordinary individual and accomplish extraordinary things?" As an example, think about Moses. Here’s a reluctant guy with a speech impediment that has excuse after excuse about why he isn’t the man for the job. And yet God was able to use Moses to lead the Israelites out of bondage to freedom in the Promised Land. Then there’s strong-willed, volatile Peter who denied he even knew Jesus. And not long after that, God used Peter to stir people’s hearts as he preached the first Gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost and the Church came into existence.

Why did God continue to pursue these two ordinary guys to accomplish such awesome tasks? Because in spite of their insecurities, they had a heart to serve the Lord. They were eventually able to overcome their fears and mistakes so that God could work through them. This gives me hope since I’m an ordinary guy trying to live for God.

How about you? ... Do you ever feel like you’re simply an ordinary person and that it would be highly unlikely that God could accomplish anything great from your life? Well look out ... because God has a way of teaching us as He prepares to use us mightily in His Kingdom.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 from Eugene Peterson’s The Message. "Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of 'the brightest and the best' among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these 'nobodies' to expose the hollow pretensions of the 'somebodies'? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have -- right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start -- comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, 'If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.'"

You see, God can and will use us not because of what we are, but in spite of what we are. Yes it’s true, ordinary Christians have extraordinary potential. ... Are you ready and willing for God to use you? See you in Bible class this week. :-}

Ted Edwards

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Bulletin Article, 15 November 1998


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