Do I Have To Be Perfect In Order To Serve The Lord?

sanctification, perfection, the great commissionAs Christians, we have a very real and very active enemy.  This enemy is opposed to God and all He stands for and spends all of his time seeking ways to disrupt and destroy that which is good (1 Peter 5:8).  Because we are the blood-bought, born again children of God, more often than not, we are the target of this enemy’s attack.

The enemy’s preferred way to operate is to try to make sure that we never hear the good news, the gospel message that Jesus saves, or if we do hear it, to try and get us to ignore or forget it without ever giving our hearts to God.  Hopefully, if you are reading this, you are already past that point.  You did not fall for the enemy’s lies and you asked Jesus to come in to your heart and to forgive you of your sins and to save your soul. If you’ve done that, then I praise God for your decision.  If you haven’t, then there’s still time, and I encourage you to make the choice now, while you still can.

But what comes next?  Once we are saved, why doesn’t God go ahead and take us home to be with Him?  Why does He allow us to continue on in this dark world of sin and heartache?  And why does Satan continue to come after us and try to tempt us with old sins and old habits and do everything that he possibly can to get us away from God and all that is good?

The answer to all of those questions that we just asked can be found in the Bible, in many places.  But for our purposes, we will choose what is perhaps the clearest and best answer.

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

We call this the great commission.  Jesus Himself gave it to His disciples and to all of those who would follow Him down through the ages.  His words are clear.  We have a job to do.  We must teach and preach His Word, the Bible, and we must make disciples of all nations until the end of the age when He comes back again.  This is the task that we have been given by the One who saved us and the primary way that our neighbors, family members, co-workers and countrymen can hear the gospel message so that they too can be saved.

I would have you notice that Jesus does not give any qualifications for those who are to undertake this task.  Nowhere in the great commission does it say “once you reach a certain level of spiritual maturity, then you can go teach and preach” or “get everything in your life in order and then go do my work”.

All that is required is our faith and belief in the saving power of the gospel and our continued reliance on the Holy Spirit for our strength and daily provision.  There is the expectation that we will want to grow in our faith and knowledge of God and that we will not want to sin or make mistakes.  And we should continually strive to learn more of God’s Word and to be transformed by the daily renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

And of course our enemy does not want that to happen.  Our enemy would have us to be fearful and silent and more focused on our shortcomings and flaws than on God’s saving grace.  Our enemy can and will put every obstacle and every hurdle at his disposal in front of us to keep us from carrying out the great commission and one of the primary ways that he does this is by trying to convince us that we aren’t worthy to work for Jesus.

The reality is we aren’t worthy.  No one is.  We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and if our worthiness was our qualification to serve and to be a child of God then we would never make it.  We would be lost and without hope if any aspect of our salvation was based on our being worthy.

Only God is worthy and we only become worthy when we identify with and accept the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary.  He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) so that we might be worthy to worship, worthy to receive eternal life and worthy to serve.  And it is based on what Jesus did for us that we can start each day with joy in our hearts and a song on our lips and be the witnesses to God’s redeeming work that He has called us to be.

The truth of the matter is that we who are saved and redeemed are still flawed, imperfect humans.  But God chooses to work through and work with flawed, imperfect human beings who are willing to be used and willing to serve the Lord.  And it is only through our close walk with God and our willingness to serve and to work that God can bring about miracles in us and through us.

God’s perfect plan will be accomplished regardless of whether or not we decide to be involved or to let Him use us.  But when we make the decision to allow the Lord to use us then we will be blessed by His presence and His peace and He can use us to bless and reach those around us.  Perfection is not required, willingness and surrender most certainly are.

Are you willing to be used and are you surrendered to God’s work being carried out in your life?  I pray that you are.

Comments

  1. Great post! Thank you!

    Isn’t it awesome to think that God chooses to use us?

    • Matthew Gaither says

      I am so glad he chose me, sinner that I am. God’s grace is amazing! Thank you for your comment, Justin.

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