Cornerstone Blog

Wednesday, Feb 1st 2012

Unlikely or Incredible? by Nate Yoder

The movie “Rudy” is a favorite of mine.  Who can’t cheer for the guy who works so hard even when it seems impossible to achieve what he set out to do?  Rudy’s prospects look pretty slim.  But out of nowhere it seems he gets the opportunity he’s been working for all his life.  His story and others like it seem so unreal.  I mean, how many people that can you think of that you personally know that went from zero to hero like he did?  Not many in my case.  That’s what makes his story so special. 

Sometimes it’s easy for us to get into the mindset that we’re really not all that useful to the world that God doesn’t really want to use someone like us to accomplish His purposes.  We see others around us and think, “God can use them.  They are more talented than I am,” or “God can use him, he is more influential or more popular than I am,” or even “God can use her, she is way more moral than I am.”  Maybe you think that “yeah, people look up to me, but I know what I’m really like.  God can’t use me.”

But here’s the deal.  God wants to use YOU.  It’s true.  It doesn’t matter your place in life, God wants to use you.  Maybe you’ve heard of the name Gideon before.  He’s the guy the group that puts all the Bibles in the hotel rooms is named after.  We see in his story that he was a nobody.  He didn’t do anything especially bad or good.  He didn’t have a lot to offer the world.  But then an angel of the Lord showed up and said to him, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12 NIV).  What a thing to say to a guy like that right?

Here’s what I take from the story of Gideon; God isn’t attracted to your abilities, and He’s not distracted from your inabilities.  He made you just the way you are to use you for a purpose.  I know that because he told us so in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV).  So the next time you don’t think you matter in this world, think of Rudy and Gideon and know that God has a special use for your unique skill set and place in life.  What better place to begin changing the world than where God has placed you!

Be a witness,
Nate