Live Dead Joy: 30 Days of Living and Dying with JesusSample

“Calling Before Cleansing”

Jesus calls us before He cleanses us. We have this mistaken notion that we must prepare ourselves for service—that our usability influences God’s selection. This is true neither for salvation nor for service. God calls sinners to repentance—not those who suppose themselves righteous. God called Matthew the tax collector on a seeming impulse. Matthew responded, in his unconverted mess, and Jesus formed and discipled him along the way.

Usability has much more to do with obedience than giftedness. Obedience even precedes character. If we will obey Jesus, trust Him enough to say “Yes Lord,” and trust that He sees in us something we have not exhibited, this is enough for Him to begin to forge our character. First is obedience, second character, and third competency.

What God has done for us, we should expect Him to do for others. Like Ananias, we hold the sins of a “Paul” against him. We doubt the call of God on the life of one who has erred. But would God treat Paul differently than Matthew? Why do we expect God to have less grace on others than He has had on us? Let us trust God to choose His vessels. Then let us lay down our lives to bless them, pray for them, and rejoice over them when they exceed us in usefulness to the kingdom.

A true test of Jesus-like character is when we sincerely rejoice at the advancement of others in the kingdom and at the increase of their usability. After Ananias prayed for Paul, we never hear of him again in the Scriptures. Paul’s ministry profile soared while Ananias disappeared. May we not only rejoice, like John, in the increase of Jesus and our own decrease ( John 3:30), but let us also rejoice when Jesus increases in our peers.

Pray for the Unreached:

Syrian Muslims of Syria

14,448,000

0.1% Evangelical

Pray for the peace that results when men and women are reconciled with God (John 14:27). Pray for men and women of peace (Luke 10:6) among the Syrians.