"There is no way that God could ever use me."
"If you really knew me, you wouldn't be asking me to serve."
"I'm nothing special."
"If I ever show up to church, you better check the ceiling--it's sure to fall in on me."
"I'm not a very good Christian, why are you asking me to help out."
These are just a few of the things I've heard over the years when I have approached people about attending worship, serving in mission and ministry or stepping into leadership in the Church. The fact of the matter is, most of us feel unworthy to do things for God.
The Apostle Peter was one of those ordinary people who God used in extraordinary ways. His story is one of death and resurrection. Peter died to his old self after he denied Jesus three times, and was raised to new life on the shores of the sea of Galilee when the risen Christ restored him to leadership and ministry.
Peter later wrote to the early Christian believers in the first century: "As you come to him, the living Stone--rejected by human beings but chosen by God and precious to him--you also, like living stones are being built into a spiritual house..." (1 Peter 2:4-5)
God takes ordinary people, broken people, messed up people with flaws, bruises, scars and wounds, and anoints them into service, and brings them together with other ordinary, broken and messed up people to do amazing things.
As the late E. Stanley Jones wrote: ”Whenever Christ touches life, that life takes on significance. The nobodies become somebodies."
The living stones that Peter talked about are what God uses to build something beautiful. These stones are often misshapen and don't seem to fit anywhere. They are often rejected as nobodies.
But they are perfect fits in God's construction jobs.
Unfortunately far too few of us truly get this. We still think of ourselves as incomplete, even though the truth of who we are is right in front of us.
The poet Rumi wrote: ”One of the marvels of the world is the sight of a soul sitting in prison with the key in his hand."
Christians believe that the Resurrection of Jesus makes all things new, including us. We are no longer what we were, we have begun to be what we will become when all things are made right at last through Christ.
This Easter, may you embrace the power of the Resurrection in your brokenness and frailty. May you trust that if you step fully into a new life in Christ, that he will fill in the broken places and empty spaces with his own Holy Spirit.
Rev. Dr. Leon Bloder is the Lead Pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church in Austin, TX. Leon is married to Merideth, and has three awesome boys ranging in age from 8 to 24. You can learn more about Leon at his personal website leonbloder.org. He also writes a daily devotion that you can subscribe to receive via email every weekday.
