God is in the business of using men and women to carry out His plans and fulfil His purposes. The Bible tells us that God used men and women of all sorts of personalities, educational attainments, skills, and professions to fulfil His purposes, all of them being part of His grand plan for salvation. And God is still in the business of using men and women to do His will on earth.
Mere People
Many of us want to be like these men and women of faith in the Bible. Some of us honour them too much, in fact so much that we already sin by idolising them. Yet one thing that many of us forget is that no matter what they have done for God, no matter how much He has used them, they are mere people just like us: flawed, imperfect, and with a lot of room for improvement.
This brings me to what I want to share to you, dear reader. All men and women of faith aren't perfect. They're flawed, yet God used them. If God can use them, He can use you, too. Do you want God to use you to fulfil His purposes? If you do, you're in good company, regardless of who you are.
In Good Company
To encourage you to allow God to use you, here are some people in the Bible – flawed and imperfect men – who allowed God to use them in spite of their flaws.
1. Paul
We read in the book of Acts how Saul met Christ, got transformed into Paul, and became an apostle to many churches in different areas around the world. Yet we also know that Paul was at first a Christian-killer who was relentless in his persecution of those who followed Christ. Later on, he would become the man who would say,
"Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1)
2. Peter
Peter is a great example to many of us of a man who is rash and impulsive. Peter was very impulsive, so much so that he slashed the ear off of Malchus, a servant of the Jewish High Priest Caiaphas who participated in the arrest of Jesus (see John 18:10). Later, this act of passion was overturned after he denied the very same man he was protecting earlier. He denied Christ thrice (see Luke 22:54-62).
Yet later we also read that Christ spoke to him, and he reaffirmed his love for the Saviour (see John 21:14-16). Later on, we read that in just one of his preachings, 3,000 men got saved (see Acts: 2:14-42). How's that for a turnaround?
3. Moses
All of us know Moses. Some of us even picture him as a man with a long beard and gray to white hair. The Bible portrays him, however, as a man who was very strong and skilful, enough to kill an Egyptian (see Exodus 2:11-15).
After murdering the said Egyptian, Moses ran away and became a shepherd in Midian, where he apparently learned how to become a speaker, although a poor one, failing in his attempt to what he believed was God's will (see Exodus 4:10-17; 6:30). Yet God used him just the same, in a way far more powerful than he could have expected: God used him to deliver the whole nation of Israel from slavery.
