On grace, disqualification, and the gifts you have been sitting on too long.
Too many people are sitting on their gifts because they’ve decided they’re not worthy to use them. They know what they have done. They know where they have been. So instead of allowing God to redeem them, restore them, and use them — they disqualify themselves before they ever step into purpose.
Have you messed up? So what. Have you sinned — even in the church? So what. I’m not minimizing sin. I’m not saying our choices don’t matter. I’m not saying there are no consequences for what we have done. What I am saying is that your past failures are no excuse for not using the gifts and talents God gave you to edify the saints and promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
But Paul didn’t do that. In 1 Corinthians 15:9–10, Paul acknowledged that he had messed up — he called himself the least of the apostles, said he wasn’t even deserving to be called one, because he had persecuted the church of God. Paul didn’t pretend his past was clean. He didn’t rewrite his story to make himself look better. He didn’t act as if his history didn’t matter. He told the truth. But he didn’t stop there.
That is the part we have to sit with. Paul acknowledged his past, but he didn’t allow his past to become his identity. He made no excuses. He took no pride in what he had done. He simply acknowledged the true work of God in him and humbled himself under the grace that changed him.
He even acknowledged that he worked hard — but then quickly corrected any thought that the work was all him. It was not him, he said, but the grace of God working with him. Yes, he labored. Yes, he showed up. Yes, he did the work. But even his ability to work, grow, preach, teach, endure, and become was evidence of grace. Call him what you will: that man who once persecuted Christians became one of the most influential apostles in the history of the faith. That is grace.
We either want to avoid responsibility by saying, “God’s grace will cover it,” or we want to bury ourselves in shame and say, “God cannot possibly use me.” Neither one is spiritual maturity. True humility says: Yes, I did it. Yes, I was wrong. Yes, I needed forgiveness. But by the grace of God, I am what I am.
Some of us have accepted God’s forgiveness in theory, but we haven’t accepted it in practice. We say God forgives, but we still live like we’re permanently disqualified. We say Jesus paid it all, but we keep trying to keep ourselves in spiritual debt. We say grace is sufficient, but we act like our past is stronger than God’s power to redeem.
At some point, you have to accept God’s grace enough to change — accept God’s forgiveness enough to forgive yourself, and stop using your past transgressions as an excuse to hide from the work God has called you to do. The same God who knew exactly what Paul had done still called him. God didn’t call Paul because Paul had a perfect résumé. God called Paul because grace had the final word. And if grace had the final word over Paul’s life, then perhaps grace can have the final word over yours too.
You are not what you did.
You are not only who you used to be.
You are not permanently bound to the worst chapter of your story.
By the grace of God, you are what you are. So use the gifts. Serve the people. Edify the saints. Promote the Gospel. Tell the truth about where you’ve been — but don’t let shame silence what God has placed in you.
If God’s grace was strong enough to save you, it is strong enough to use you.
And by the grace of God, you can become exactly who He called you to be.
