Past Sins and Current Struggles Don’t Disqualify You
We all have things in our past that we regret. Things we feel ashamed of. We wish we wouldn’t have done them or that they wouldn’t have been done to us. There were consequences, and perhaps other people were hurt by our choices.
We hate that about ourselves. We feel impacted by those today. We might even feel like we can’t be used by God because of those things.
The truth is that your past sins don’t disqualify you from being used by God.
Aside from our past, many of us have present struggles. We have flesh patterns that continue to emerge. They also have consequences. They can hurt other people.
We hate this about ourselves as well and can also feel like we can’t be used by God because of these struggles.
The truth is that your present struggles don’t disqualify you from being used by God.
THE HALL OF FAITH
In Hebrews 11 we find what is often listed as “The Hall of Faith.” Similar to the greatness of those who might be in the Hall of Fame for their achievements, those who are listed in Hebrews 11 are highlighted as examples of those whom God used to do great things.
God did use the 17 men and women in this list to achieve big things, but if you look deeper into their lives, you see that they were far from perfect.
NOAH
Noah was the one guy on earth whom God chose to save during a time when the earth was filled with sin and unrighteousness. God chose him because He found him to be the only one righteous in that generation.
However, after the flood, Noah gets drunk which results in a situation where one of his sons does something that causes him great shame and results in severe consequences.
ABRAHAM
Israel’s greatest patriarch, Abraham, gave into fear and lied in an attempt to pass off his wife as his sister, involving her in the deceptive scheme. Abraham did this on two different occasions! Not exactly the kind of behavior that you would expect from someone listed in the Hall of Faith.
MOSES
Moses led the Israelites out of slavery. He got to go to the mountaintop and receive the 10 commandments from God Himself. What an honor. What a big way to be used by the Lord! But let us not forget that Moses murdered someone.
DAVID
David was described as a man after God’s own heart. He is seen as Israel’s greatest king. He is even the one from whose lineage the Messiah would come.
But David had also committed adultery and then covered it up by having Bathsheba’s husband killed.
RAHAB
Rahab was a prostitute. Most people would consider prostitution to be a pretty big sin and yet she was used by the Lord to protect His people of Israel. She then married into the nation of Israel and became the ancestor of King David and the ancestor of Jesus.
Evidently, their past sins did not disqualify them from being used by God.
Your past sins don’t disqualify you from being used by God either.
The sovereign God of the universe is able to work even through your past sins to accomplish great things through you.
JESUS’ DISCIPLES AND THEIR STRUGGLES
Jesus chose 12 men to spend time with and to be involved in starting the early church. God used them to take the gospel into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You and I are impacted today by what God used these men to accomplish.
However, the entire time that God was using them for His purposes, He was working through current struggles in their own lives.
Thomas had doubts. James and his brother John had a temper and showed selfish tendencies. Peter continuously stuck his foot in his mouth and even denied Jesus.
Even though the disciples had ongoing struggles throughout their lives, their struggles did not disqualify them from being used by God during those times of struggle.
Your current struggles don’t disqualify you from being used by God either.
THE POWER OF GOD IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU
The moment you put your faith in Jesus for salvation, you are completely forgiven of all your sins, and God comes to dwell in you.
You are no longer defined by your past sins or your current struggles. You are a new creation in Christ. You have a new identity in Him.
The Life of Christ fills you, and He begins to express His Life through you.
He takes your past sins and your present struggles, redeems them, and even uses them for His glory.
The apostle Paul reminds us that we are only vessels:
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves
2 Corinthians 4:7
Dan Stone, in his book The Rest of the Gospel, says this about this verse:
We are the earthen vessels. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. The beauty of the vessel is the contents. Don’t try to become the contents. You can’t be both the vessel holding (expressing) the life of God and at the same time try to be the life of God. Only He is the life. Only He can live the life through you.
Dan Stone
It is God’s all-surpassing power that works in you and through you.
Your past sins and current struggles don’t disqualify God from using you.
You are the earthen vessel. You may be broken on the outside, but God doesn’t need a clean, shiny, perfect vessel on the outside. Any vessel will do because it’s not the vessel that will accomplish anything – it’s the contents of the vessel.
He is the all-surpassing power in you. He works in you and through you and will accomplish things of eternal value. Praise be to God!
“Do I have life ‘more abundant’?”
That’s a question millions of Christians have asked down through the ages.
Dan Stone asked that question during a time of spiritual frustration in his own life and God answered by showing Dan he had been living only a part of the gospel message.
Dan’s search led him to discover the truth of “Christ in you” as “the rest of the gospel” that most Christians overlook.
Readers who are hungry for a deeper experience with God will resonate with Dan’s discovery of “the rest of the gospel,” which is indeed rest for everyone who is willing to finally let go and trust Christ in you and through you.
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