Okay, lets look at some examples in scripture that God felt comfortable with as being qualified, starting with Abraham. After all we are the seed of Abraham and he is the father of all nations. What qualified him? The fact that he was a polytheist, who believed in many gods? Surely that would qualify him to be used of God. Nope. The bible says he believed God and it was credited or accounted unto him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Notice!!! It didn't say he believed IN God. It said he believed God. That's an important difference.
Well then, lets try Moses. This is a man who couldn’t speak well (Ex 4:10). Also, he was a murderer (Ex 2:12-14), so surely that qualified him to be used of God. I’m being facetious, of course. You’ll notice that Moses turned to see why the burning bush was not all burnt up (Ex 3:3,4). In effect, Moses turned to God, kind of like Abraham believed God. God selected him to deliver the children of Israel from Pharaoh’s hand.
Here’s one, David. Oh wait a minute. This guy was not only an adulterer, but a murderer also. You do the leg work checking me against scripture. Just study the story about Bathsheba. Yet David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). The first human name mentioned in the New Testament is Davids and the last human name in the bible in the book of Revelation is Davids.
Moving on to Rahab, the harlot. God saw fit to put her into the hall of faith as revealed in Hebrews 11:31. You can study her story in the book of Joshua. Wait, am I saying that a harlot was qualified to be used by God? No, I’m not saying it, I’m just repeating what scripture says. Come on!
Lets move on to Peter. I equate him to a cigar smoking foul mouthed fisherman. You remember he denied the Lord 3 times. Yet, he was the only one who attempted to walk on water, and the only one who got the question right in Matthew 16:15. He’s also the only one mentioned that preached a sermon and 3,000 people got saved (Acts 2).
Then there’s Mary Magdalene. This is a woman who Jesus cast seven demons out of (Mark 16:9). God qualified her to bring a most important message to the disciples. John 20:17 has the information.
Well, if polytheism, murder, adultery, being a harlot, being filled with demons, or denying the Lord don’t disqualify you, certainly being too young does. Wrong again. Let’s look at Timothy. That’s not what 1 Timothy 4:12 says, Paul speaking.
Finally, my hero. Saul of Tarsus, better known as Paul. A Pharisee of Pharisees and hater of Christians. Just look at Acts 8:3: But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
Remember that Saul was at the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7, and was in agreement with it as mentioned in Acts 8. Yet this is the guy that God chose to write nearly half of the New Testament. This is the guy God qualified to bring forth the exciting, ridiculous, radical, inexhaustible grace of God.
So there’s eight (a few) examples of the people that are qualified to be used by God. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. If you think you have screwed up so badly and have done many things wrong, you qualify for God to use you.
Just look where God went to get his disciples. It wasn’t to Rhema Bible College or Oral Roberts University, he went to the sleezy back streets of Jerusalem and the shores of fisherman. He hired a thief – Judas, and put him in charge of the treasury; a doubter named Thomas who eventually became one of the most successful evangelists of his time; a denier named Peter who was a most successful Apostle; Levi or Matthew a stinking tax collector that immediately jumped up and followed Jesus when called to do so.
So what is it that qualifies us? Well, the answer is in the scriptures.
2 Corinthians 3:4-5.
4 “We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ. 5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.”
Once again we see that it’s all about what God in Christ Jesus has done and nothing about what we do or don’t do. Remember, God is more concerned in your wrong believing than He is your poor behavior. Nearly everyone of the eight examples above had poor behavior, but their believing was right on target. They believed God.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you are not qualified to be used by God. You are righteous, perfect, and holy, not because of anything you’ve done, but because of everything Jesus has done. God sees you as absolutely qualified and righteous. No longer a sinner, but a saint.
Progress in the Christian life is exactly equal to the growing knowledge we gain of God in personal experience. It’s all about relationship and not religion and rules. Religion and legalism will lead you to a wrong concept of who God truly is. A wrong concept of God will result in a failure to recognize you’re righteous, holy and perfect, and will cause you to have a wrong idea of worship and service.
Bill Johnson says that people who view you as arrogant when you know who you are in Christ are weak in faith. Those are the same people who will try to avoid being arrogant by embracing stupidity and calling it humility. Those are the ones who say “I’m just not good enough for God to love me. I’m just not worthy to even expect anything from God. I just haven’t done enough good things for God to bless me yet”. Well, that just doesn’t line up with the truth of God’s word.
John 8:32 says “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty definite. You shall know the truth. Once you do, that truth shall make you free. From that scripture I received this revelatory statement. “If it’s the knowledge of the truth that makes you free, then it’s error that binds you”.
2 Timothy 2:5 tells us to “study to show ourselves approved, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. When you do study, you will find that you are completely and totally valued by God and loved without condition. He is not nervous about using you to bring the good news to others.
To close, just remember that Old Covenant or law always causes you to look at yourself, but New Covenant or Grace always causes you to look at Christ and him crucified. Also, Old Testament prophets call your sins to remembrance, but New Testament grace teachers call your righteousness to remembrance. Finally, Old Testament preachers tell you what’s wrong with you, but New Testament grace preachers tell you what’s right with you, because of what Jesus has done, in spite of what’s wrong with you.
We please God most not when we try to make ourselves good, or when we try to perform for God, or adhere to a set of man-made rules. We please God most when we throw ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and failures and simply receive all His perfection and victories.
God loves us for ourselves, not for our efforts to please Him. He values our love more than our performance. That is why it’s important to understand that “It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God.” Grace and peace.
2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father... more