Read 1 Corinthians 12:4–11

The apostle Paul talks about the gifts and callings of God.

Qualified by God

God not only chooses us for himself—he also chooses us to do his good works on earth. The amazing thing is that throughout Scripture and history it seems God has chosen the most seemingly unlikely and unqualified people to fulfill his plan and purpose on the earth. Most often, the response of those people has been to insist on their own unworthiness. And if they don’t—the people around them may do so, loudly and shrilly. And therein lies a danger: If we allow other people to tell us what we are and are not qualified to do, we will limit what God wants to do with us. We may never get to those who need our help.

What is impossible with people is possible with God. We just have to believe that God has called us to go into the world in his name, and not listen to the crippling or even paralyzing labels and limitations imposed on us by others. Whom God calls, he qualifies—and he chooses everybody to do something specific, something that is part of his design. In fact, the Bible shows us that since the beginning of time, God has chosen the unlikely to do the unimaginable:

• God called Moses, who was nearly eighty years old at the time, to tell Pharaoh to free God’s people (Exodus 3–4). But Moses insisted that he was not eloquent and no one would listen to him.
• God called Gideon “a mighty warrior,” and told him to save his people, who were being relentlessly ransacked by their enemies (Judges 6–8). But Gideon, who at the time God called him was working in a hidden place because he feared the enemy, couldn’t imagine how God could use a coward to fight for his people.
• God called Jeremiah, a teenager, to deliver news to the Jewish people, but Jeremiah feared that, as young as he was, he wouldn’t be taken seriously.

Moses, Gideon, and Jeremiah would have missed out on their moment in history if they’d been allowed to get by with those excuses. We wouldn’t even know their names. We know who they were because God refused to accept their excuses and insisted they accept his assignment—and then provided them everything they needed to succeed in it.

Point to Ponder

Are you declining God’s mission for your life because you claim you’re not up to it? Don’t sell yourself short. God qualifies those he calls. Will you prepare your heart to accept your appointment with destiny?