Matthew 1:16 – Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ It is amazing to see how God chose to use a weak vessel like Mary to create a pathway for Jesus to come to this earth. Mary was a country teenager from very poor upbringing and had nothing to boast about her background, family, culture, education or wealth. She lived in a culture where women were not regarded highly by the society. Her willingness to submit to God to use her as God’s pathway for Jesus entailed issues related to dignity, public respect, social acceptance and prospects for a family life. Yet she was willing to be used of God in whatever way it pleased Him. But it is marvelous how God was willing to use such a downtrodden and unknown character like Mary. Who would have ever thought that she would become the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ? Who would have imagined that she would be an instrument for Jesus to perform His first miracle at Cana? But this is how our God works even today. He uses unusual people from unusual circumstances in unusual ways to glorify His name and accomplish His purpose. Will any thing good come out of the lives of the unknown, unpopular, unworthy people like us? Will He use those of us who are not rich, wise, prestigious, prominent and respected for His use? Yes, He is willing to use us for His glory if we are committed to Him and if we give Him full freedom to use us the way He is pleased. The world is often amazed at the way He uses useless people like us for His glory.
Dear friend, have you ever felt that you are a person with no usefulness to any one and to God in particular? Perhaps you come to such a conclusion because you remember how blatantly sinful your past was. But rest assured that if you have given your heart to Jesus, He will NEVER remember your past. He will look into your future with its prospects if you are committed to Him, and will make use of you for His glory. If you look at the great saints of God, you will see that they all had sinful past and had feet of clay. The lives of great saints like Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Judah, Moses, David, Peter, Paul and others were stained with sin. But God washed it all and made them white as snow. He willingly forgot all their past failures and caused their future lives to become victorious because they had faith to trust in the God of all possibilities. What God had accomplished in these lives was impossible with man, but was possible through the grace of God. When God is allowed to pour His power on to our lives and change us, He will be able to use us for His glory as He used Mary, Elizabeth, Ruth, Esther, Hannah, Lydia, Priscilla and other ordinary women. When God is in your life, your prospects for accomplishing great things for God are unimaginably high and the result will be amazing. Perhaps the world around you has written you off. It is likely that members of your family, your church, friends and neighbours have stamped you as obsolete and unusable. But God can still use you mightily and bring glory to His name. Today let the life of Mary challenge us not to write us off and continue to surrender ourselves for God to use us for His glory. This ought to encourage us to trust in the God of opportunities who is waiting for our surrender so that He can use us. What will you say to Him today?
1 Corinthians 1:27 – But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. Thought for TodayThe weakest life has the best prospects when it is fully surrendered in the hands of the Almighty who created it.
