How can God possibly use me when I'm so broken?

Today's Precious Prodigal Post is at = http://bit.ly/1tfrxNR How can God possibly use me when I'm so broken? #GodRecycles Like what you see? Please "Like" us and "Share" this post w/ your friends!

Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.”

It’s been my experience that people who show up in the rooms of AA, CR, Alanon or any other “self-help” group fall into two broad categories. Some believe they are not responsible for anything that’s wrong in their lives while others think they are to blame for everything. Some are unrealistic and grandiose about what they can and will do. Others don’t think they are capable of doing anything. How sad.

Living with a prodigal can do some serious damage to our self-esteem, but we don’t need to add to that by beating up on ourselves. Convincing ourselves that we are the worst, the least capable, and the least adequate isn’t only destructive, but it is also categorically untrue.

Do you remember the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000? As usual, multitudes followed Jesus; now it was evening and there was no food. I can almost see the bewilderment on the disciples’ faces when Jesus told them to feed that crowd. We aren’t talking about adding some water to the soup because there wasn’t any soup! What were they to do?

They had nothing except two fish and five little barley loaves. And while all four gospels relate the story, John 6:9 tells us they didn’t even have that…that fish and bread came from a young boy. No wonder His disciples asked, “…but what are they among so many?” You know the story. Jesus took what that boy had, blessed it and performed a miracle.

You see, it isn’t what he had to give to that mattered…it’s that he was willing to give it. What we have in and of ourselves isn’t ever going to “be enough” if we are measuring it through human eyes. God doesn’t want or need our ability. What He desires and what He can use is our availability.

But you don’t know me! I’m too young, too old, too weak, too damaged. Maybe you were abandoned, rejected, betrayed, and you think you’re too broken for God to use. You’re not. Perhaps your past choices haunt you and tell you God can’t use you. He can. Maybe you think you have nothing to offer. You’re wrong.

Jabez, whose mother “bore him in sorrow” became one of Israel’s judges. (1 Chron 4:9-10) Gideon was hiding from the Midianites and threshing wheat, but God called him to be a hero. (Judges 6:1-2) Moses was a murderer with a bad temper and a speech impediment. With a couple of exceptions, the disciples were simple fisherman called of God to turn the world upside down. And they did.

A pastor friend asked me once, “What would you do for Christ if you knew you could not fail?” I’m asking you the same question and then one more. How do you know you can’t if you have never even tried?

To belittle yourself isn’t keeping yourself “right-sized.” It’s minimizing the power of God that’s available to you. If all you have is two fish and a few little barley loaves, join the club. That’s all any of us have. It brings to mind the poem by Edward Everett Hale:

I am only one,

But still I am one.

I cannot do everything

But still I can do something;

And because I cannot do everything,

I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, realized we have something to offer God?