Do you think God can use your brokenness or failures for His good?
Romans 8:28 (KJV) shows us that God can and will. It says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” I always hated failing, looking like a fool, or getting the short end of the stick. What made those instances even more unbearable was when people knew about it. Maybe you felt this way too. Hopefully, after today that perspective will change.
We all have moments in our lives when we didn’t live up to the standards we set for ourselves and, most notably, God’s. We have those days where we wish we could get redos or at the very least, just throw them away. These instances in our lives can bring up a lot of negative emotions and thoughts, shame being the biggest of them all.
I carried shame with my testimony of how I eventually became a Christian. I heard all of these great and positive stories from people about how they became certified Christians and were saved. Some grew up in church and it was a part of their lifestyle from the jump, some said God had been speaking to them since they were kids, while others just bluntly said, “I love God and this is why I’m a Christian.” For me, however, it was the exact opposite and less pretty.
God called me in the midst of my sin and my ugly lifestyle that was opposite to Him and his ways. It seemed like God showed me a movie revealing to me that if I kept going down the path I was on, I was going to hell.
Eventually, after the beginning of my journey as a Christian, I finally felt happy about God saving me because I realized where I could have been and who I could have become. You would think after God called my heart and saved me, I would spread the Gospel everywhere I went, sharing my testimony of just how great and real God is to the masses. But I did the exact opposite. I carried shame and embarrassment for so long because it wasn’t like the picturesque stories I continually heard from everyone else. Maybe some of you have felt this shame as well due to your testimony, whatever it may be – being different compared to the positive and pretty ones, we hear all the time. What I have to say to shame, embarrassment, and you, is if God isn’t worried about how it looks or what others perceive it to look like from the outside looking in, then why are we? The most important thing is God bestowed upon each one of us a blessing that eventually became our testimony and we can and should glorify Him and His name for that alone and spread that.
We may feel shame and embarrassment about how some of the stuff and instances God had to save and renew us from. We may receive ridicule and mistreatment from people we knew before we met Christ due to how we used to be. All we have to do is remind them and ourselves of 2 Corinthians 5:1 – that we aren’t who we used to be, all due to God, and how that old man is gone, only the new man is left. That verse and Romans 8:35-39 should instill in us all confidence and reassurance that we are conquerors, not victims. What the enemy might have used to break us down, to hinder us, God used to save us and maybe even save someone else. You just never know who’s watching you.
If you don’t believe that, you can believe this. A friend of mine who knew of my testimony and how God changed my heart, thought I was crazy because I was a slave to sin one day and not another. He constantly ridiculed and doubted if this God who I proclaimed changed my heart was real. I thought Heaven and hell would have to freeze over for them to believe an ounce of what I was saying was true. Honestly, I thought they would be the last person asking me about God or anything relating to Him. But they had recently gone through a heartbreak under similar circumstances to my own coming to God testimony. And they looked to me for hope, guidance, and a reason to continue on because all they wanted to do was give up and stay under their issue and circumstances.
All I could do was point them toward the One who then and currently keeps me going. God. That friend heeded my advice and believed that was someone greater than themselves and only God could guide them out of this dark period of their lives.
So we should never be ashamed of what God did, because without Him, could you imagine just where each one of us could be? Being vulnerable, transparent, and real is a scary thing due to having to show the outside world the real you, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and having to face the judgment and criticism that may or may not come from this. That alone will make you quiver at the very thought of having to show the real you and everything that is. But 1 John 4:4 should instill in us all courage and hope because it reminds us that “greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world.”
