We've been studying Joseph in our Life Connect sunday school class at church. Today we studied about how dyfunctional Joseph's family really was. His father Jacob, lied to his father Isaac and cheated his older brother out of his birth right. He had children by many different women. He showed favoritism towards his son Joseph which caused his other sons to all hate Joseph, conspire against him, and sell him into slavery. How messed up is that? I've heard this story over and over but today something new struck me. You see, there are no perfect families. We've all got a certain amount of dysfunction going on. Even in the most loving families things go wrong. Over and over again God proves that no matter what you've been through, no matter what you've done wrong, no matter what someone else has done to you, God can still use you. God can still turn it around for good. I don't know about you, but this is an encouragment to me. We may be imperfect, but God loves us anyway, and He can use us to touch other's lives. He can turn our mess into something good.
The next time you feel like GOD can't use you, just remember...
Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer
Rahab was a prostitute
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Jonah ran from God
Naomi was a widow
Job went bankrupt
John the Baptist ate bugs
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer...
AND Lazarus was dead!
No more excuses now!! God can use you to your full potential.
Besides you aren't the message, you are just the messenger.
