You putting yourself forward?

Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.” (I Corinthians 1:26-31 MSG)

Hollow pretensions abound, don't they? There are tons of people going around 'tooting their own horn', proclaiming they have 'made it' all because of what THEY did, what THEY know, or how THEY created this or that. The truth of the matter is that their intelligence, ability, and even their creativeness is a direct result of being created in the very image of God! We possess our traits or talents because of his gracious creativeness, not ours! None of us is worthy of 'tooting our own horn' - it is wiser to give God the glory because he is the only one deserving of it.

It may come as a surprise to some, but God doesn't call and equip the 'naturally charismatic' who appear to have their entire lives together all of the time - he calls and equips individuals with hurts and hangups, meager means, and even those who might not seem as 'intelligent' as others. God can use ANYONE who is willing to be of use in his hands - the key is not our degree of talent or knowledge; it is our degree of submission to his will. Right thinking, right living - all are available to us because he cleaned the slate for us - removing our sins as far as the east is from the west. He set us right with himself through the gift of his dear Son, Jesus Christ.

We may tout our intelligence, but even the ability to learn is a gift of God. We may think we have an outgoing personality that some call charismatic or alluring, but even the trait of being extroverted and a 'people person' isn't enough to change the hearts of those who are living their lives without God's hope alive within their hearts. There is much more to this 'calling' than we may have imagined - a willing heart doesn't always make for able hands, but a willing heart made new by the blood of Jesus can give our hands the ability to touch a world of individuals who need to hear of the hope found in Jesus.

God deliberately chooses men and women that others may have overlooked, discounted, and said are not very 'gifted' or 'talented'. It is a deliberate choice - don't miss that - to use those others say are not of 'much use'. That might just give some of us a little hope today - God is looking at us and saying he is ready to use us right where we are. Will we heed the call? Will we show our willingness to be 'of use' in whatever way he has created for us to be used? It isn't us putting ourselves forward - it is us showing ourselves willing. Jesus is the one who 'puts us forward' so others may be reached with his grace. Just sayin!