God Uses Failures

Photo Above: Athirappilly Falls, India. Wikimedia

God Uses Failures

Do you ever feel like you are unusable by God? Do you believe you have fallen in to the same sin too many times to continue to be used by God? Do you believe you are not worthy to serve God?

From the scriptures we find out that we are all sinners, and we all have failed God. We find out that none of us are really worthy to serve God. We find out that there is not good people and bad people, but instead sinners, and redeemed people. We see that God redeems people, He takes their sin away, and then gives them righteousness through the cross. There is no sin (or amount of sins) that is more powerful than God’s forgiveness through the cross.

Sometimes it is helpful to remember all of the bad failures and sinners in the Bible that God used. Let’s take a look at a few:

-Adam saw God face to face and still disobeyed him.
-Noah got wasted after the flood.
-God chose Gideon (at first an unwilling coward) to be a military general for Israel.
-Moses had a massive temper. He beat some guy to death with his fists. He got mad at Israel for making the Golden Calf, so he made them burn the golden calf into dust, and then made them all mix the dust with water and drink it as punishment. (God did not tell Him to do this.)
-King David “a man after God’s heart” slept with another man’s wife, and killed her husband to conceal the pregnancy. He also wasn’t a very good father.
-King Solomon, who wrote much of the Proverbs, had over 700 wives and 300 concubines. He also worshipped other gods.
-Rahab was a prostitute at the time God used her.
-Mathew was a tax collector. (much different in antiquity, then they were money swindlers to God’s own people)
-Peter denied he knew Jesus 3 times to his face, right before Jesus was going to go to the cross to die for his sins.
-The apostle Paul, wrote two thirds of the New Testament, but before that he instigated and murdered Christians, including Stephen an important deacon in the early church.

Questions to think about:
-Do you believe God can use you?
-Do you believe the cross alone gives you righteousness, and makes you worthy of ministry?