Have you noticed how candid the Bible is about its heroes? It doesn’t whitewash the flaws and foibles of its characters.
Abraham is not only the Father of All Who Believe but the scared rabbit who puts his wife in jeopardy to save his neck. King David is not only the Man After God’s Heart but the adulterer who lies and kills a man to try to keep the affair from being exposed.
Peter is not only First Among Equals in the band of apostles but the frightened fisherman who denies knowing Jesus of Nazareth in his hour of need – not once, but three times.
So how can these people be “saints” and “examples” to the rest of us? How are we supposed to find hope and encouragement from reading their stories?
That question isn’t too hard to answer. For one thing, those stories in the Bible are about real people. And real people have weaknesses as well as strengths, bad days as well as good ones.
For another, God knows everything and lies about nothing. So the Bible doesn’t tell half-truths or gloss over human frailty. Finally, the full story gets told so you and I will understand that God is willing and eager to accept and include us too. The purposes of God in this world are seen through by people who have clay in their feet. Always have been. Always will be.
But I have met so many people who are under the impression they are hopeless or “too far gone.” One woman told me there was no place in God’s heart for somebody who had made as big a mess of her life as she had. A man just out of jail said he could never feel comfortable among “decent folk.”
What? Joseph had a prison record. Sarah laughed at God’s promises. Jacob hurt his family by playing favorites with his kids. Naomi and Ruth were widows Continued. Job lost everything he had ever worked for. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal. Rahab had been a prostitute. Noah got drunk. Moses stuttered.
Are you getting the picture now? Is it dawning on you that God doesn’t have to recruit perfect people (there aren’t any!) and will use just about anybody who is willing to trust him?
That means he can use you. You. And you. Even me.
God still does some of his best work through the most unlikely of people.
Dr. Rubel Shelly is Pastor of Woodmont Hills Church of Christ, Nashville and authors Fax of Life a weekly service. He is the author of more than 20 books, including several which have been translated into languages such as Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, French, and Russian. To subscribe to Fax of Life, send email to faxOfLife@woodmont.org
