Qualified in God's Eyes

At times when I am invited to preach in a colleague's church, I can experience anxiety. My mind becomes preoccupied with myself and what I perceive as my limitations. I engage in a conversation with myself wherein I am convinced I have nothing to offer, there are better preachers than me, and the people are going to dislike the sermon. When I buy into this type of thinking I am not only diminishing the gifts that God has given to me but in some ways disqualifying God Himself! God has uniquely gifted and called His people to serve in various capacities within the body of Christ according to 1 Corinthians 12. Paul does not mention in 1 Corinthians 12 certain qualifications to receive God's gifts such as what the culture often points to like intelligence, good looks, a certain economic status, or a particular ethnicity. The gifts are given by the Holy Spirit and received by those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. Thus, this is the only qualification necessary for God to use us in serving Him.

Testimonies Of The Unqualified

The Bible is filled with countless narratives of God using individuals whom others may have labeled as unqualified to serve God. Some of those who served the Lord came from backgrounds that were at times questionable and in some cases frightening. In the Old Testament, Abraham, "the father of many nations" with whom God established a covenant (Genesis 15) lied not once but twice about his relationship with his wife Sarah, telling the Egyptians (Genesis 12:10-20) and King Abimelech  (Genesis 20:1-17) that she was his sister. David was considered an unlikely choice to be anointed king of Israel according to his family but as the Lord told Samuel, "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7) In the New Testament, Mary most likely would not have been chosen to receive the "most popular girl in the class" award. She was not rich or famous but in God's eyes she didn't have to be head and shoulders above all others. God made his choice to anoint her to bear the Messiah. (Luke 1:26-38) Finally, Saul of Tarsus was one of the most feared men in all of Jerusalem for his zeal in persecuting the early church. (Act 8:1-3; 9:1-2) Saul of all people certainly wouldn't qualify to be a servant of Christ. Yet after his conversion (Acts 9:3-17), Saul, who later became referred to as Paul, (Acts 13:13) used the same zeal to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

It's very easy to compare ourselves to some standard that the world or others set as to who is deemed "qualified" to carry out whatever the requirements of a particular task may entail. Sadly, the "comparison game" can and has crept into the church. Whenever a believer wishes they were as "godly" or gifted as another brother or sister they are forgetting about the One who created them and gifted them uniquely to serve Him. Whenever a small body of believers laments the fact that their numbers don't match up to the "mega" church down the street, they are forgetting that Christ is the Head of the church and He dwells in the midst of every congregation no matter what its size. When we come to understand that there is only One in whose eyes we are qualified, we can move forward in confidence knowing that as Paul states in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." In the words of the familiar hymn written in 1922 by Helen H. Lemmel, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, In the light of His glory and grace."

Shalom,
Pastor Sheree