Might be Useful

Many movies that become popular start with the person who later becomes the hero being unpopular, wimpy, nerdy, but passionate. Passion at its root meaning speaks of pain. Their passion is both in their ideals, which they are not able to attain because they are not powerful enough, and in their rejection as outcasts by the popular and handsome and pretty people.

Something then happens in the story, either supernaturally or by great discipline, that makes the failure become the hero.

This is a popular type of movie because it is a popular hope. We all long for greatness, and for our lives to have value. This is an even greater desire among believers, who sense that their God is calling them to make a difference in the world and the lives around theirs. It is easy for me to believe that includes you. Since most of what I write about is encouragement to “be awesome,” not just “have a nice day,” it is easy for me to believe you want your life to be full of impact on behalf of the powerful and costly fact that Jesus died and was raised from death to glory.

So – be reminded that no matter how you view your life or capabilities or value, Jesus perceived all of that and more, in you and around you, to be worth His being tortured to death. He was not just being positive on the cross. He was purchasing something and someone of great value.

If you still don’t feel like the sharpest knife in the kitchen, that is irrelevant. When a messenger from Yahweh appeared to Gideon, he was hiding from Midianites in a wine press, threshing wheat. Threshing is a job that is normally done out in the open, so that the husks (“chaff”) get blown away from the kernels of wheat. “Yahweh is with you, valiant warrior,” was the greeting of the angel. I suspect that Gideon, surprised by the appearance of the angel, looked around to see the other person, who might be the valiant warrior. No one else was present, but that still didn’t make Gideon feel like the messenger knew him very well.

It is possible that, until the end of the battle to which he was called, Gideon never felt like a valiant, mighty warrior. That did not stop him from obeying the commands he could perceive he was receiving. Don’t let the idea that you may not yet have seen the change in your identity (whether supernatural or by discipline), stop you from being who Yahweh thinks you are. He is right. Jesus was crucified in weakness, but now He lives in the power of God. We are weak in Him, but we live with Him in the power of God (2 Corinthians 13:4).

Take the steps, no matter how costly or impossible or strange they seem, to be obedient to what you sense to be His call and His commands. The priests who were told to carry the ark into the Jordan River when Israel crossed over to enter the land where the Canaanites had been living had to step into the water before it receded away from them supernaturally (Joshua 3:15-17). Be awesome!