By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“Lord, thou hast called me forth, I turn and call on thee.” – George MacDonald

I think we all have had these thoughts at one time or another: “I know God is calling me but I’m not where I need to be spiritually.” “I really do need to go to church but I need to get myself together first.” “I know I need to evangelize, but how can I tell others about God when I haven’t even got it all figured out?”

These are common thoughts. But I want to encourage you to look at who Jesus called in the Gospels: Peter, Andrew, James, and John were unqualified. Mathew was a cheater and a swindler. Nathanael was a skeptic. Zacchaeus was greedy. God called Abraham who was past his prime. David was wimpy. Moses was unwilling. Gideon was a coward.

God never calls people when they are ready. Usually, He calls people when they are at their weakest or when they feel the most incapable. He calls the sinners and the unbelievers. He calls the ones who need Him most.

“Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:17).

If you feel like you are inept or unqualified, hear Him say, “Follow me”. If you feel like you need to get your life together before you approach the throne of God, listen to Him calling out, “I am sending you”. If you feel like you’re too full of sin to enter the doors of the church hear him saying, “I want you.”

God wants you as you are. You don’t need to know everything about the Bible to share it with your loved ones. You don’t need to have it all figured out to lead your family in line with God’s will. You don’t need to be spiritual stable to be used by God.

Present yourself to God as you are. Come to Him with an open mind and an open heart. If you willingly come to Him, He will use you in spite of your flaws. If we expose our inmost being to God, He can change us for the good.

So many times, we feel like we have to fix ourselves before we come to God. But the truth of the matter is this: We can’t do it. You can try, and try, and try to fix yourself on your own and you’ll fall short every time. Instead, allow the One who breathed you into existence, the One who knows you in and out, the One who loves you more than anyone can or will, the One who believes in you, the One who wants to use you, the One who knows your heart; allow God to fix you. He’s the only one who can.

Come to Him as you are.

Parents: Explain to your children the type of people that God uses. Tell them that we don’t have to fix ourselves before we come to God. He wants us as we are.