Day 81: Stumbling Saints

Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption—in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:26–31

The fact that Jesus picked Peter to lead the early church right before He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father makes my heart smile from ear to ear. Because remember this is the same knucklehead who threw Jesus—who was also his BFF—under the bus right before our Messiah’s bogus arrest, horrific beating, and humiliating, painful death on a cross.

Pete, arguably the most yellow-bellied, Benedict Arnold in the entire Bible, is the highly unlikely dude our Savior passes the baton of spiritual leadership to. Instead of kicking him off the team after he fumbled the ball on the first yard line, Jesus appoints Peter to be team captain. Which proves that epic failures don’t have the power to sabotage our futures because God’s kingdom purposes have never been intrinsically linked to human capacity or a lack thereof. Whew!

So take a deep breath along with me, because nobody’s going to miss out on a life-changing encounter with our Creator-Redeemer just because one of us makes a mistake during a Gospel presentation. Neither will He boot our hot mess selves to the curb. Instead Scripture reveals our divine King to be patient and kind, One who is slow to anger and great in mercy (Ps. 145:8)—basically One who picks us up after an inevitable failure, wipes the dirt off our face with a towel, then wraps the towel around the back of our neck to pull us into an awkwardly intimate forehead-to-forehead embrace. When we finally let go of enough shame to make eye contact, God winks and says, “You’ve got this!” Then I think maybe He rolls up the towel and teasingly snaps it behind us as we stride toward our destiny! Okay, obviously we can’t find that anywhere in the Bible. But that’s how I picture things going down!

The point is this: perfection is not a prerequisite to begin and remain in relationship with the Alpha and Omega! Additionally, the way God goes about choosing His ambassadors defies human logic: He equips adolescences to slay giants, prostitutes to save nations, one little kid’s fish and chips lunch to feed a hungry multitude, and a team of twelve mostly rough-hewn and uneducated men—including a couple of guys He knows will throw shade—to reflect the Living Hope of the Gospel to the rest of the world!

If you look in a spiritual mirror long enough, you’ll wince at the filthiness of your own clay feet . . . but you’ll also begin to make out the outline of the nail-scarred ones you’re standing on.

• What deficit or defect in your life do you think God has utilized the most to reflect divine glory?
• How have you seen Him use your most flawed moments to work kingdom wonders?
• How does Peter’s life encourage you in the seasons you’ve made major mistakes?