He came up to me at the conclusion of one of our weekend Boot Camps. I could tell he had something on his mind. He looked me in the eye, with the fire of rekindled hope in his. He cleared his throat and spoke,
“Dave, I just wanted to let you know that you are a huge encouragement to me…”
I heard what he said, but knew there was more that was going to come out. In a nano-second my mind raced ahead to anticipate what he may be preparing to say. I thought that perhaps he was going to suggest I had an exceptional ability to communicate, or amazing wisdom when I spoke, or that a powerful anointing infused my words. I was preparing to receive his encouragement, yet not let it go to my head.
What came next, what he said, was not even close to what I was anticipating;
“…because you are such a screw up, but God uses you anyways! That gives me hope for me!”
There was a brief silence between us and then we both broke out into gales of laughter.
He was right.
Throughout the weekend I shared my journey with Jesus. It is a story of Jesus time and time again pursuing me with His love in the midst of my brokenness and failures. He is faithful even when I am not.
The reality is, I’m screwed up. I have issues. I’m not as bad as I was, and I’m not as good as I’m going to be. I am on a journey to greater and greater freedom, and greater and greater glory.
As are you – we all are.
The reality is, no one is perfect – not this side of heaven. And God doesn’t demand perfection from you before He can work through you. He is looking for men who understand they are flawed, but are willing to offer their flaws and brokenness to the Lord, and trust Him to do His work in and through us.
The only people God has to work with are flawed humans. The ones he prefers to work with are those who know they are flawed and realize that God is bigger than our flaws. It’s not about your limitations, it’s about God’s limitlessness. God works in and through the humble – those who think about themselves less, not think less of themselves.
The lowly one is home for the Holy One. God chooses the weak and foolish things of this work to confound the wise and shame the strong. When we offer our weaknesses to the Lord he transforms us by His strength.
Years ago I was having breakfast with a Christian leader. He was asking me why I wasn’t stepping up and leading. I told him that I didn’t want to lead anything until I was sure my motivations were pure and I wasn’t seeking my own glory. I’ll never forget what he said to me next,
“Then I guess you won’t ever lead anything, because your motivations will never be 100% pure this side of heaven.”
He helped me to understand that God calls us to partner with Him in the midst of our brokenness. He’s not waiting for us to get our act together before we can partner with Him to serve others with our own giftedness. We are transformed in the journey.
As we offer our weakness, our brokenness, our flaws, our foibles, our messes, and our mistakes the Lord miraculously transforms us into His likeness. It is our willingness to bow in repentance and accept the Lord’s divine do-overs that we continue to move forward in the renewal of the Holy Spirit. We are made new in Him.
Are we all screwed up? Yup. Some more than others? Perhaps, but the fact is, we are all way more screwed up than we realize. God sees how messed up you are, and yet He still invites you to partner with Him to serve others. Offer your weakness to Him.
God is looking for men who recognize we’re messed up, but understand it’s not about us, it’s about Jesus in us. And that changes everything.
1 Corinthians 1:27
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:9, 10
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 3:4, 5
“Such confidence we have through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.”