Foolish & Incompetent or Not

Why God should choose the meanest, basest, most unworthy individuals with absolutely nothing to commend them at all to God, except their miserable, lost condition, and then exalt them to become the sons of God, members of the divine family, and use them for His glory, is beyond all reason and human understanding. Yet that is grace.  M.R. DeHaan

I was studying the apostles and there is something that struck me.  When Jesus prayed for a group to help him spread the Word, he picked a motley crew to do it.  They were not the smartest, richest, wisest or even the easiest to get along with.  They were not the crème de la crème of society.  These guys fought amongst themselves, they lied and they betrayed.

What does this say about this group?  It basically says they were people just like us.  Why would Jesus pray to God the Father for such a group as this?  I think it is because they were so not the types of people we would expect Him to choose.  Otherwise, why would you pick a tax collector or a mere fisherman as part of your Olympic team? 

In our eyes if you really want to win the gold you are going to pick the strongest, most athletic and smartest just so you can get a head start out of the gate.  You certainly wouldn’t pick anyone that everyone dislikes such as a tax collector or a sinner. We also wouldn’t choose a group who argued with each other over who was the greatest.

Let’s look at this from a hypothetical standpoint.  If Jesus walked up to you today and said, “I want you to lose your life so you can gain it and on top of that I want you to drop everything you are doing and follow me.”  What would your response be?  This same scenario applies to us each day.  We must be willing to take up the cross and follow him.  We are no different from this motley crew of misfits.  God can and will use each of us for His glory if we will allow it. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am a misfit just like the apostles.  I pray daily that you will use me for Your glory.  I am not the wisest, smartest or most likely to succeed, but I do have heart.  I pray that You will use me in every way possible in order to bring Glory to You. 
             
Scripture: As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named  Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.  Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”  When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Matthew 9:9-13