Recently, I had to fill out an application to rent a house, since we just sold our home and need a place to live while we build a new one. I was really surprised by the amount of information required for the screening process. I guess they want to make sure that I pay my bills on time and that I’m not some sort of criminal or crazy person.
Similarly, I also recently applied to become a local chaplain with an international Christian organization. They also had a lot of qualifications that needed to be met in order to be considered for the position.
If you’ve ever applied for a job, for a loan, to get into college, etc., then you can identify with my experience.
Thank God that He doesn’t do the same thing with us in order to be accepted into His family. You don’t see signs hanging over the doors of the church that read, “Apply within”, and when we come to Christ, there’s no waiting period while God looks over our qualifications, our credit record, or our criminal history. He already knows that you and I are major screw-ups. He doesn’t have to dig too deep into our past to find dirt.
The very thing that holds many people back from approaching God, their shame, embarrassment, and guilt over their past, is the very reason we so desperately need Him, and is, in fact, the very reason He sent His Son to die in the cross.
The most famous verse in the Bible reads, “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16
He offers forgiveness and salvation to anyone who will come and receive it.
In Luke 5, when Peter first encountered Jesus, and realized who he was dealing with, he freely confessed, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” He knew he was out of his league with Jesus. He was ashamed of who he was and who he had been.
But Jesus didn’t reject him! Instead, he said, “Don’t be afraid. From now on, you’ll catch men,” and that was the beginning of Peter’s walk with the Lord. He was accepted and given a new calling.
Jesus took an unqualified, uneducated, sinful fisherman and transformed him into a dynamic powerhouse for the kingdom of God!
When God called you and saved you, He didn’t do it just to forgive you and leave you as you are. Like Peter, you may have no qualifications. The only qualification you have is that you’re a sinner, which makes you qualified for the blood of Calvary’s cross.
God cleanses you and removes your guilt and shame, and then He makes changes in your heart and mind so that you become transformed into the man or woman of faith and power that He designed you to be in Christ. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become brand new.”
You don’t need a glowing recommendation letter or a resume filled with your church attendance records or good works to be accepted by God. You don’t need to prove your worthiness to Him.
It’s the blood of Jesus that makes you worthy of the life God offers. He’s ready to forgive and receive you as His son or daughter, because of the sacrifice of Jesus. He wants you, and He sees the potential of what you can become in Him, regardless of your dark history. If He can do what He did with Peter, imagine how He might use you!
Will you yield to Him today? Will you give up trying to impress Him, and simply rest in Him?
It takes a step of faith to let go and do it. Go for it!