you’re the kind of person GOD uses…

when i talk about weakness i’m not talking about sins, character flaws you can change (like overeating, impatience, greed, laziness.)  i’m not talking about things you can change. 

weakness is any limitation in my life that i inherited or i cannot change.  there are all kinds of limitations like that. 

there are circumstantial limitations that you were born with, that you don’t have any control over that you can’t change – disadvantages, problems, external pressures that you can’t control. 

there are financial limitations when you don’t have enough money.  have you ever had unexpected expenses that weren’t your fault?  sure. 

there are relational limitations.  some of you really have a heart for GOD but your spouse is SPIRITually apathetic.  they don’t care about the LORD.  maybe they’re not even a believer and that’s a limitation in your life.  or you have a difficult child or difficult children or a rebellious child.  or you have a handicapped parent.  something in your life that you either inherited or you cannot control that causes pain in your life. 

there are emotional limitations.  some of us have a tendency, a predisposition, to get depressed.  it’s in your nature.  that’s no sin, just your nature.  some of us have a tendency, a predisposition, to worry about everything.  some of us have a tendency, or predisposition, to lose our temper and get angry.  or to be fearful.  it is the natural inclination.  when we make bad choices, we give in to that. 

we have talent limitations.  there are some things you just cannot do and you never will be able to do.  JESUS said there are one talent people, and five talent people and ten talent people. 

and of course, we have physical limitations.  you have a certain amount of energy and no matter how much you work out you’re never going to have more energy than that, given your physique, your constitution.  maybe you deal with a handicap or bad back, or some other kind of physical limitation in your life.

all of these things, god says, he purposely chose.  why?  2 corinthian 4.7 (ncv), we have this treasure from GOD but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure.  this shows the great power is from GOD not from us.  GOD says, “I put MY treasure of wisdom and joy and salvation in you, in your body, but your body is just a clay pot,” and a lot of our bodies are just cracked pots.  the thing about clay pots is they break easily.  if you drop a clay pot, it breaks.  it’s not indestructible.  every clay pot has inherited design faults and flaws in it.  it is weak, it is not indestructible. 

paul was saying, “yes, i’m a CHRISTian and GOD’s in my life but i’m not indestructible.  i’m a human being.  my body is a clay pot so i have weaknesses in it.”  it says that GOD chooses to do this because it shows the great power in our lives is from GOD and not from ourselves.  GOD puts HIS greatest gifts in ordinary containers – like you, like me.  some think, “GOD could never use me in a great way.  i’m just an ordinary person.”  you’re the kind of person GOD uses.  HE puts HIS greatest gifts in ordinary containers.  HE takes ordinary, weak people and uses them in extraordinary ways. 

just a thought from the front porch…