For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
— Ephesians 2:10 NIV
We are whack. It’s something we all have in common.
And common ground is a great place to start when we want to figure out how best to reach a lost and dying world for God’s kingdom. Where have you messed up? What has God redeemed? And what have you been taught through the process? These are the things a lost person wants to hear about because your mess is something they can relate to.
When non-Christians can see themselves in the used-to-be of the redeemed, when they can grasp the perfect imperfection that makes up the body of Christ, when they can relate to the Church where they once felt like foreigners, that’s where they begin to see themselves not as they are, but as who they could be in Christ.
But it takes vulnerability and intentionality on our parts. It takes remembering where we came from, resisting the temptation to pretend we’ve never struggled, and allowing God to make a mission out of our mess. Sharing our past allows others to see the work that has been done in us and shines a light of hope to those who may be following behind us. Our wrong way can become a guiding light that points to God.
That sin you hope never sees the light of day could be the very thing God means to spark a path for someone else, through you, to him.
It will, no doubt, be uncomfortable. But it will be worth it.
Therefore… boast all the more gladly about [your] weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on [you].
— 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV