Excellence of God

As a spectator, I have watched world-class athletes have what we call in Australia a "shocker."  My eyebrows went up recently when I saw clip from a baseball game when a routine ground ball skipped by an excellent outfielder and roll all the way to the wall, allowing 4 runs when it should have been only one or two.  It was surprising to see a player of such calibre make such a fundamental error, but we have all failed to execute simple tasks we know we are capable of doing--whether on the sports field, while cooking dinner, at work or school.  Today I had a bit of a shocker at church when I sent the wrong verses to the sound team and then forgot to edit my own notes.  Let's just say, things did not run smoothly.

Our God is glorious, perfect and majestic in all His ways without error, and He has chosen to use people who are flawed, weak instruments to serve Him and to do His will.  It is fitting that we do our best to honour God by applying ourselves to give Him our best, but it is also important to remember an engaging presentation, a professional-level worship team, and dynamic speaker is not the Holy Spirit.  God is able to use the weak and foolish to confound the wise, and even our foibles and mistakes can be redeemed by God to humble and refine us and still be fruitful in the lives of others.  None of us can do the first things God requires of us in our own strength (like loving one another), but we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:5-7 of Christians, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. ⁶ For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us."  It is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is most excellent, and the messenger God uses is of small consequence.  It is a grand thing indeed to be used by God in a small way, and God uses humble people to do great things they will never see or know.  It is God who commanded light to shine in the darkness, and it is Jesus our risen Saviour who shines through us.  Paul compared Christians to common earthen vessels He has given the knowledge of the glory of God, and then eplained how God wisely employs the weak so the excellence of the power is of God and not of us.  God's work in and through us is all of grace.

When we have a shocker, we can be encouraged that God knows fully we are frail, forgetful and make mistakes.  Because nothing is impossible with God, He is able to use people as His servants and accomplish His good purposes and plans.  He is faithful and His word is true even when we fumble through a prayer or send an email full of errors.  Our inability to do the most basic, simple tasks magnifies the greatness of God by the unorthodox earthen vessels He chooses to hold forth His glorious message of salvation.  Rather than criticising others, feeling embarrassed or beating ourselves up for our faults, let us praise the LORD for the opportunity to serve Him and to share the knowledge of Jesus.  It is not the best, strongest or brightest in the world's eyes but God chooses the ordinary, forgetful and flawed He purchased as His prized inheritance with His own blood because He loves us.