Who Does God Choose to Use?

"And Saul approved of his execution." (Acts 8:1)

In the last couple of weeks we have noticed God call and choose to use a man named Abram. He was a pagan in an idolatrous society, but his heart longed for the one true God. And yet we see him as a liar, an adulterer and a man that acts in his own flesh in spite of the promises of God. God uses a sinful broken man.

We have seen God call and use Jacob, who was a liar, a cheat. We see him as a man filled with fear and stubborn. And yet God uses Him as well. We read often about the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Last week we saw God taken stubborn, hard-headed Simon and change him into Peter. He is a man we see constantly up and down and yet always growing. We come away from these and realize that God uses people just like us.

In Acts 1 we are introduced to the man who would be known to us as Paul. He is standing by watching and approving of the execution of Stephen, the first recorded martyr. It is on the road to Damascus to persecute and perhaps even murder christians that Paul comes into contact with the risen Christ. Again, we see God chooses and uses imperfect people like us.

He calls them out of their sin. He transforms them into trophies of grace, and He will do the same with us, if we will let Him. Praise God, He isn't finished with any of us yet.

Now You Are

"And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." (Matt. 16:18)

There is a play on words in the original language here. The name Peter means "small rock", or pebble. It is a greater "rock" that Jesus speaks of building His church on. It is the recognition that He is the Christ. It is the element of faith that discovers, finally, the truth about Jesus. You recall, in John 1, Jesus had said, "You are Simon, you will be Peter."

That is how Jesus is in our lives. He sees us not so much for who we are, but for who He can make us. And that transformation becomes when we realize who He is and allow Him to be Lord in us. It is not instantaneous, but rather a journey. One of the incredible things is to trace Peter through the New Testament and watch His journey as God changes him. Much like the signs on the side of the road that say, "Under Construction". When we surrender to Christ, for the rest of our journey in this world, we are under construction.

Simon came to represent who he was in the old nature. Peter represents who He is becoming in Christ. And those two natures, the old and new surface from time to time in our observations of this man. He is so much like us. We can take great joy in the fact that if God could use a broken and flawed fisherman like Peter, He can also use us.