No Excuses

"There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

-2 Corinthians 12:7b-10 (NIV)

This morning at church, the congregation had the privilege of hearing the testimony of David Ring*, a nationally recognized Christian speaker in whose life God's power is marvelously displayed! Born with cerebral palsy and orphaned at age 14, it didn't seem as though this man had it in him to do great things for God. But he has, and he does, everyday.

Listening to David set my mind working. Every Christian faces challenges in their walk with God. If you haven't faced them yet, you will. Trust me. But there is something about an underdog that appeals to the human spirit. When someone who doesn't seem to have a chance beats the odds, something within us soars. That's because, deep down, we recognize the fact that we were all made for something glorious. God destined us for glory, but we were born into a world ruled by darkness and overcome by evil. Each one of us begins our existence with the deck stacked against us.

Like David, some of us have physical handicaps. Others have mental or emotional handicaps. We all have our quirks and hang-ups that can sometimes seem like immovable mountains... but we're no the only children of God who've been dealt a lousy hand.

Adam was a coward; Eve was naive; Cain was a murderer; Noah was a drunk; Abraham was a liar; Jacob was a thief; Joseph was a slave; Moses had a speech impediment; Rahab was a prostitute; Gideon was timid; Jephthah was an illegitimate child; Samson was a womanizer; Ruth was a widow; David was an adulterer; Solomon worshiped idols; Elijah was the only prophet left in Israel; Esther lived under a genocidal prime minister; Job... well, let's not even get into that... Jeremiah was depressed; Daniel was an exile; Hosea was married to a wayward woman; Jonah was judgmental; John the Baptist was a weirdo; Mary was an unwed mother; James and John had anger issues; Peter was impulsive; Thomas doubted; Judas was a backstabber; and Lazarus was DEAD, for crying out loud! What's your excuse?

Instead of using our issues as cop-outs, we should use them as a platforms for sharing our story. Yeah, it takes guts to admit to all the faults of your old nature, but pretending to be perfect isn't what showcases Christ's power. It's our admission of our hurts, habits and hangups--the things about ourselves that we would most like to hide--that reveals the greatness of what God has done! We have no excuse for not sharing our testimony with anyone we meet. There's no challenge we face that has not already been overcome by Christ's power.

"I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?"

-Jeremiah 32:27

"For nothing is impossible with God."

-Luke 1:37

*For more about David Ring, visit http://www.davidring.org/about.html