I am often fascinated by the band of believers that Jesus put together to carry the gospel of Christ. What an eclectic bunch.
Different socioeconomic positions. Questionable characters before Jesus. Businessmen. Intellectuals. Impulsive personalities. And... John the Baptist... I know they were cousins, but he as certainly odd by societies standards. Still, they all had unique, God breathed gifts that would help expand the boundaries of the gospel. They couldn't keep silent about the Jesus they and come to know or experienced.
They couldn't hide the light Jesus had poured into their darkness.
Bob Goff said this:
"Be the kind of light that makes people squint so hard they don't see you anymore." The idea is that all they see is Jesus. Oh, to be that kind of light. (Insert deep sigh of wonder and awe)
Frankly, if you get too close to me... there are countless flaws and weaknesses. I have buttons that can be pushed. I say things I wish I could take back. I blow it sometimes. Really blow it.
Still, his grace is sufficient to cover my sins and my flaws when I run back to His arms. He has been in human form. He knows temptation and struggle because he became one of us and faced it all.
He is the ultimate overcomer and encourager. In fact, he rarely chose the brightest and the best. Those who believed themselves "good" and "good enough" often rejected the gospel. They were religious but there was only pomp and circumstance. The relationship was empty.
Jesus offered life to societies broken and rejected and made them shiny and new. He lit their light. Love fanned the flame and they burst into high impact individuals. Not by theology, education of fancy degrees... but by a passion to share what they had found in Christ.
They were bright and shiny... offensive to some, but others were fascinated and found their way to the light for themselves. Truth and light go together.
Satan whispers the only light you can truly be beautiful in is the dark.
Jesus proves that he can pour light into the broken places and everything changes from the inside out. For those who find the beauty in the nail scarred hands... how can we believe he doesn't find beauty in our mess when we return to him... lost children coming home. Perfection is not required. In fact... he can use the lessons learned in the trials, troubles and bad decisions.
I started somewhere else this morning... but this passage from "The Message" version offered such encouragement I had to share it.
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.”-1 Corinthians 1:29-31 (The Message)
We don't need to come to him after we clean up our lives. We need to present our lives to him today... imperfect as they may seem... as living sacrifice to the work of the Kingdom of God. (Romans 12:1)
Let him be the polish that makes the light shine. We can't do it on our own. He is the power source. Plug in.
I am grateful perfection is not required.
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