“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom
of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of
you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” - 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11
Our God is a God of complete restoration;
a God of hope, of perfection, of betterment.
We should all be thankful that God does not choose us the way the world
chooses us. The world does not accept,
or embrace what we could be, but rather what we are. It loves those who by reason of strength,
charm, or good fortune, have exalted themselves above the rest; given the
masses something to aspire to, or at the very least something that will entertain. God’s selection process is completely different;
he cries “whosoever will.” He takes
broken, sinful, vile, unholy us, and makes us anew.
Imagine with me for a moment,
imagine if a radical Muslim, known world over for hunting and killing
Christians, say Bin Ladin, if he was still alive. His fame, his person, everything that he is,
centers on his zeal for persecuting Christians.
What if this man walked into your church Sunday morning? What if he strolled right up to the pulpit
opened the Bible and began to read Matthew chapter seven, verses seven and
eight? What would you do? Would you believe him? Would you be terrified of him? Don’t think it can’t happen? It has already happened; Paul the Apostle was
such a man. A man that vehemently
persecuted the church, imprisoned preachers of the gospel; made it his life’s
work to alienate Christianity. Then one
day Jesus stopped him in his tracks, and changed his life forever; are we not
thankful that God’s selection process is somewhat different than the
worlds? I ask, if God can take a man
such as Paul, a man that killed Christians.
If he can sanctify this man, if he can make a: preacher, teacher,
minister, apostle, out of this man. What
can he do for you in your life? Jesus
does not see us as the world does. As
one preacher said: “He doesn’t see you for what you are, but for what you will
be.” You see a filthy, ruined, broken
life. He sees a white, clean, complete,
testimony. You see a sin enslaved
prisoner. He sees a prime candidate to
be an ambassador. A preacher of the
ministry of reconciliation. A person
that can proclaim to all who will hear “he did it for me and he can do it for
you!” Simply put, Jesus can change your
life, if you give it to him. As the old
hymn goes “give up, and let Jesus take over.”
I don’t always know who reads this tract every week. I don’t always know who you are, or where you
come from. But I do know this, for a person
who is truly repentant, utterly sold out to Jesus Christ. When that person gets up from an altar of
prayer, they will not be the same person who knelt to begin with. That’s why it’s called conversion, and when
God puts his Spirit in that vessel, it will burn out the desire to sin, and
make instead a “want-to” follow Christ.
God will take out hat part of you that naturally “wants-to” disobey God,
and put in a new “want-to.” A want-to
that wants what he wants, and desires what he desires. He will make you a holy vessel sanctified and meet for the master’s use.
This is the gospel, and it is for
whosoever will, not for whosoever is qualified.
You don’t get your life in order so you can come to God; you come to God
because he can put your life in order, and give you eternal life to come. Like a rose among the thorns, God can make
something beautiful blossom from a sharp, barren, harsh, vine………If you let him. If you let him, God can make something beautiful
out of your life.
