4 Reasons God Uses Imperfect People
I’ve been a pastor now for about 25 years, and there’s a question I’ve received quite a few times.
The wording may differ, but the question is the same. People are confused and want to know: Why does God use imperfect people?
At Verve, we are currently doing a teaching series on one of the heroes of the Bible, an incredible woman named Esther. Esther was a very imperfect person.
So, why does God use imperfect people?
Reason One: That’s all He’s got to choose from.
God uses imperfect people because … there are only imperfect people. If He decided to not use imperfect people, He would have no one to choose from.
This is a reality, not an excuse. I am imperfect, and so are you, but we don’t want to stay that way. Our love for God and our hatred of sin should lead us to want to live perfect lives. Jesus said we are to aim for perfection, “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). We recognize we aren’t there yet, but like Paul, we strive for it, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12).
A person who doesn’t aim for perfection, who settles into their sin, who wallows in it without feeling godly sorrow or repentance, may forfeit their right to be used by God.
But when I say that God uses imperfect people, I’m not talking about that person. I’m talking about Jesus’ imperfect followers who want to move forward and who struggle and wrestle and are journeying to holiness but falling down along the way.
While we’re on our way closer to perfection, we need to be gracious towards each other, and God is gracious to us, even using our sinful natural selves to accomplish His supernatural mission.
Reason Two: Imperfect people have to depend on Him.
Why does God use imperfect people? I think part of it is that they are forced to depend on Him. God chose Gideon, who was a coward, to lead his army. Gideon didn’t have the courage for the job, so he had no choice but to depend on God.
Imperfect people who are called by a perfect God to a task beyond them discover the life-altering truth Paul learned,
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).
Reason Three: When God uses imperfect people, He gets the glory.
If God chose extraordinary people and they did extraordinary things, everyone would think, “Of course that person accomplished that.” But when God uses imperfect people, when He chooses those who are very ordinary, and they accomplish the extraordinary, everyone is amazed. They realize it had to be God, and so He gets the glory.
Jesus chose imperfect, everyday normal guys, and asked them to lead His movement and change His world. They soon began doing the extraordinary, and everyone realized it couldn’t be them. “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13).
God deserves all the glory, and when He uses imperfect people, He usually gets it instead of them.
“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
Reason Four: Maybe He just gets a kick out of it.
When my son was little he played Little League. (If, when he was little, he played BIG league, that would have an issue.) When he came up to bat in his Little League games, I would get so nervous. Though I knew, in the big scheme of things, that the at bat was pretty meaningless, I was his father, and I cared about him so much I couldn’t help but care about what happened. If he got a hit, I would breathe a sigh of relief like a nuclear war had just been averted, and cheer like someone had just given me a huge Tres Leches Cake. (I really like Tres Leches Cake.)
I wonder how our heavenly Father reacts when His children do something eternally significant?
How did God react when:
- Moses, with the “slow of tongue” speech impediment, told Pharoah, “Let my people go”?
- When Rahab, the prostitute, dared to hide the spies?
- When David, the teenage non-soldier, took on and defeated Goliath?
- When you shared your faith with your friend?
- When you volunteered at church last month?
- When you gave some of your money, because you treasured Him more than your treasure?
I don’t know, but my guess is God gets a huge kick out of watching His children depend on Him to do what He’s called them to do.
I do know that God’s called you to do something, actually, quite a few somethings. You may not feel qualified, but God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. So depend on Him and do what He’s asking you to do, and then listen, because you might just hear Him cheering.