We had a family picture. One distant family member who had not seen me for years said they did not realize I was so tall. We looked again at the picture and laughed. I was standing on some sort of small hill and the picture made me look way taller than I really was.
Then my uncle swung into action and edited the picture. He not only reduced my height, but he reduced it way more than my actual size. Now instead of looking taller in the picture, I was looking shorter. While he was at it, he made a few others in the picture look trimmer.
How he edited my photo was not flattering for me. Now I had a negatively distorted view of how I looked. If we are not careful, we could let distorted pictures of reality make us feel inferior. We might even feel unworthy of serving God.
You may not feel worthy to minister to a hurting world. You know about the problems you have in your own life. But let’s look at a scripture to make us realize that God uses imperfect people. God uses jars of clay, broken vessels to share hope. He uses our weaknesses to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Let’s think about how the enemy will distort our picture to tell us we are not worthy of service. You may here a whisper that you are unworthy to share the good news. Maybe you have this idea that you are disqualified from ministry because of what happened in your past. You have this or that in your background. Wait a minute! Does that imperfection disqualify you from serving God? No! Remember that man who wrote this help orchestrate the murder of Christians. Paul was in hearty agreement with Stephen’s death (Acts 7).
But Paul comes right out and says it in 2 Corinthians 12:10, when I am weak then I am strong. It is a spoiler alert for this message. He says we can delight in insults, weakness, and hardships. Go ahead and fill in the blank with why you thought you were disqualified from ministry. This will only show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
So don’t think you have to be perfect to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact think just the opposite. God uses broken vessels to be heralds of hope. It shows that it is God and not us who has all surpassing power.
You have seen the china cabinet with beautiful cups and saucers and plates. They are admired and rarely used. In one case one of the pieces was broken in the dusting and then repaired. The repaired dish became the center piece often displayed with flowers while the unbroken pieces remained in the cabinet and not used. This can be a picture of our lives. At first, we think the broken piece has no use anymore. But when we let God get control of us, as broken vessels we are useful.
There is a whole Japanese art of repairing broken pottery and making them useful. This art is called Kintsugi. It treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
The Lord has his divine Kintsugi in our lives to make us useful. God’s power is manifest in our weakness. People see the power of God in that our broken lives have been pieced together and we still have problems and God uses us.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)
God made the sun to shine out of the darkness. This is a reference to Genesis, And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3). God has done a miracle in the life of every born-again believer in Christ. God has taken a heart empty and with complete darkness as black as the universe before the sun and the stars were created. In Christ the light now shines in our heart.
When Paul made this reference maybe he was thinking back to his own conversion. The time he saw a brilliant light that temporarily blinded him. But in Christ the scales fell off his eyes. He saw the light and the light of Christ shone in his heart.
As Christians we have the light of Christ. We have problems, but the light of Christ still shines. We just don’t want to let that light get hidden under a basket. We need to shine.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
The idea is that the Christian seems to get to the end of his rope and that is when God really works. The needs around us are immense and we all have problems of our own. Did Paul have problems? Well, he was pressed on every side, but not crushed. He was persecuted, but not abandoned. He was perplexed but not in despair. He was knocked down but not destroyed.
We do not wait for the ideal situation to jump in to serving the Lord and letting our light shine. Whoever influenced you to Christ, they were not perfect. God worked through them despite their problems. Don’t have these unrealistic expectations that you have to be perfect to minister for the Lord.
What if you were to say, sorry, but I am too hard pressed and too knocked down to let the light of Christ shine from me? No. Can you imagine a farmer who said I have so many needs that I will not plant this year. My house needs painting. My equipment needs servicing. There are medical bills stacking up so I will just skip planting and harvesting this year.
Yes the farmer finds it difficult, but without working the field and sowing the seed there will be no upcoming harvest. We do the best with who we are.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
How about that! The worse you are the more you show God’s power. Are you foolish? Good because the Lord uses the foolish to confound the wise. (1 Corinthians 1:27)
We let God’s power be made known in our weakness. Imperfect people can participate in shining the light of Christ in so many ways. You can give, you can pray you can go. You can be used right now and right where you are. There are ways you can reach out. You can let the light of Christ shine through you.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)
The Lord uses our frailty to show his power. For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. (1 Corinthians 1:26) Are you nothing special? Well, that is good because when God uses you it shows that the all surpassing power comes from Him and not from you.
Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:10)
Let’s look at this in the Message version: What they did to Jesus, they do to us - trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us - he lives!
We are dying and giving spiritual life to others. It is God's power, not ours, that keeps us letting the light of Christ shine through us. That is what demonstrates the all surpassing power of the gospel to the ends of the earth.
That is what makes faith in Christ so exciting. God will use us despite our weakness. Our weakness actually demonstrates the power of God.
