An excerpt from Kris Vallotton's upcoming book, Heavy Rain. Watch for more news about the January 2011 release!
One of the main reasons people don’t act is because of an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. It is so easy to inventory our weaknesses and disqualify ourselves from the historic exploits God has assigned to each of us. We forget that Jesus borrowed a couple of fish and some bread from a boy’s lunch box and fed a multitude. The crowd didn’t eat rice and beans because the boy brought fish and loaves. Jesus multiplied what the boy had, not what he didn’t have. God doesn’t care about what you don’t have. He only cares about what you have!
Many people try to tell God why they can’t carry out their divine mission. They say things like, “I am too old, too young, too dumb, too ugly, too uneducated, too weird, or too weak. I was born into the wrong family. I was a prostitute, a thief, a murderer, or an adulteress. I’ve been divorced. I have had an abortion, or several.” The list goes on and on. Take courage, folks—you are among great company. Life is filled with history-makers like us!
If you think you’re too dumb, remember Samson. Now that guy was dumb! I mean, come on—when your girlfriend ties you up three times and tells you that your enemy is after you and you still spill the beans—that’s an IQ crisis. Yet in the end his greatest victory followed his greatest defeat.
Perhaps you think you are too young to make a difference. At eight years old, Josiah was too young to cross the street by himself, much less be king. And talk about generational curses—Josiah’s grandfather was Manasseh, the wickedest king in Israel’s history, and his father was Amon, who walked in all the ways of Manasseh. Yikes! Yet Josiah led Judah into one of its greatest revivals and brought his whole nation back to God.
Maybe you are just plain strange. Join the exalted ranks of John the Baptist. The man was weird. He wore an outfit that never was or ever has been in style. And eating locusts—you can’t even order those things at the finest Chinese restaurants. Yet Jesus said none greater than John had ever been born.
Ah, I get it, you have some sexual hang-ups. Tell your troubles to Rahab, the prostitute who helped Joshua conquer the Promised Land and later wound up as the great-great-great grandmother of Jesus Christ.
So you’re an ex-con. How about the “man after God’s heart” named David, who committed adultery and then murdered the woman’s husband?
Oh, you have a drinking problem. Noah, who courageously obeyed God and partnered with Him to save the entire human race, got so drunk that he took all his clothes off. Just a minor issue—NOT!
You think you are too ugly to make a difference. Have you ever seen a picture of Abraham Lincoln? Now that dude was ugly. He was so ugly that a ten-year-old girl met him on the campaign trail and said, “Mister Lincoln, you are so ugly that you should grow a beard to cover up your face.” So he did! Yet that ugly man became one of our greatest Presidents and saved our nation from the tyranny of slavery.
Maybe you have some emotional challenges. Winston Churchill (who looked like Mister Peabody, by the way) had what he called his “black dog.” The “dog” was his struggle with depression that kept him in bed for up to thirty days at a time. Many historians believe Winston was mentally ill. If so, Churchill did more while mentally ill than most people do in their healthy state of mind.
So you never finished high school. Peter’s claim to fame is that his messages were so profound they had to be from God because the guy had no education (Acts 4:13).
The stories go on and on. What is your excuse for not fulfilling your call? Get over it! God is famous for accomplishing extraordinary things with ordinary people.
