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To
those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will
have an abundance. But from those who are unfaithful, even what little they have
will be taken away. Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
(Matthew 25:29-30 NLV).
Imagine you're on your church's search
committee, investigating applicants desiring to pastor your congregation. Among
the letters from candidates is the following letter:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in
Christ;
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
understanding that your pulpit is vacant, I'd like to be considered for the job.
You see, I love to preach, even though my preaching tends to stir up quite a bit
of controversy. In fact, one of my sermons caused a riot. Actually, I've never
been able to stay in one place more than three years. My health isn't too good.
I have what I call a "thorn in the flesh--and to be perfectly honest, I'm
not much to look at. I can assure you, however, that this doesn't interfere with
my ministry. I'm a bachelor by choice, never been married and never had any
kids, but I'm surprisingly good at conducting family life seminars. If you do a
background check on me--and I'm sure you will--you'll probably discover that I
changed my name a while back, and I have been arrested a few times. But even in
jail I was able to have a successful ministry. People tell me I'm quite a
theologian, although I've never attended seminary. I hope you aren't looking for
an administrator. I'm not too good at keeping records. And my memory's not too
good. Sometimes I forget who I've baptized, for instance. But I'm a hard worker,
although the things I want to do, I rarely do. And the things I don't want to
do, I always end up doing. Go figure. But you know what? I've found that
everything works out fine in the end for those who love God and are called
according to his purpose. Praise be to God. Well, let me know if you are
interested. I can start next week. By the way, I wrote this with my own hand.
Grace to you all,
Paul
Would you call the Apostle Paul to
pastor a church? God did. If God could use Paul, chances are he can use you.
Remarkable talent and physical perfection are not prerequisites to being used by
God. Most of the heroes of the Bible, in fact, were imperfect, inexperienced,
unqualified, certainly not the kind of people we would have chosen to do the
job. Their inadequacy, however, motivated them to depend upon God and to follow
him in obedience. When you think you "have it all together," you tend
do things your way instead of God's way. God isn't waiting for you to get good
enough to serve him. He's waiting instead for you to say yes.
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