Crooked Sticks

How God uses messed up men to do great things.

It is an amazing thing that of our God. He is a perfect being, all loving, all powerful, full of justice, full of grace. With such deep intense hatred for evil yet such profound love and mercy towards those that commit it. It is no wonder that our outmost expressions don't do Him justice and our grandest efforts to please him are but mere childs play. It is a wonderful thing that he does not merit love according to our work for him, yet he desires us to do work for him. Yes, He allows us to work for him. Like a child attempting to help his father fix an engine we only get in the way, however, this pleases the father. In the same way our God could do anything with a mere word yet he allows us to help because it pleases him. I guess this is why Martin Luther said,  "God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick."

Many times I find men that desire to serve, yet they disqualify themselves because of the belief that they are too "crooked." For some reason or another they feel that the task God has presented to them is beyond their reach or worse is meant for a better man. I saw this up close during my internship at Bethany World Prayer Center. So many guys simply fell off because they could not believe what God was saying about them. They would drop out of the race only to later on find out that every single one of us was struggling with the same insecurities, self doubts and fears. Every one of us heard that condemning voice of our heart screaming with all of its might, highlighting our kinks and our bends and reminding us that we are not worthy to serve this amazing God. Yet at the same time we heard a louder voice say, "I will use you!" The thing that made the difference, the thing that made me stay was that I believed Jesus rather than myself. By God's grace I trusted that, even with my faults He would still win.

That is an intense realization, He wins! No matter how messed up or how far gone, the moment you believe him you are on the winning team. No matter how bad you are at being on the team, HE STILL WINS! There is no amount of "bad" that could make Him lose, God will have his way. So who will you trust, your own voice saying that you are a bad father, your own council that says that you can't expect your children to live pure because after all you didn't, the voice in your head that says that your ministry is impossible? Or will you trust God, the same one that used a prostitute (Rahab) to protect Godly spies and a prideful religious man (Paul) to bring about the greatest revolution in culture this world has ever seen through the gospel. 

He is saying, He can draw a straight line with you. In fact He is saying you are not crooked at all! And what He means is that in Him we find a complete redesign of our being, a complete reconstruction. We are no longer crooked sticks but sharp solid instruments forged by the blood of the lamb and ready to bring about His kingdom on earth. We are what He desires to use. We are the ones this earth has been expecting, eagerly waiting to show ourselves and live to our original design.

Don't leave it to a "better" man. You are it, you take charge. Get on your knees and ask God, "what do you desire to do with me and what impossibility did you design me for?" Then believe Him! Start walking it out and be Holy as He is Holy. Leave whatever is getting in the way behind and get ready to start you own adventure with Christ and see His kingdom come.