God Wants to Use the REAL You

Being your authentic self is one of God’s purposes for your life.

He created you and wants to use the you that He created. But often, when confronted with who we really are deep down, our instinct is to run and hide. After all, we are human and fail continuously. But have you considered that your failure may be what God wants to use to propel you into your potential?

Over twenty years ago, my wife and I moved from a small hometown in Paragould, Arkansas, to pioneer a church plant in a larger, more diverse city in Little Rock, Arkansas. We were excited, passionate, and filled with expectation of the church God had called us to build. However, three months into it, the denomination helping us decided to pull out. We were left without a job or a source of income and alone in a city where we knew no one. I felt like a failure, and I was worried that those cheering us on would see me as a failure.

Failure makes us want to isolate and hide so that we don’t have to face the reality of life not going our way. Moses experienced this in Exodus 2. In his anger, he committed the heinous act of murder against a fellow Egyptian. Knowing the mistake could cost him his life, he fled to the desert to hide from Pharaoh. But God had a different plan. God spoke to Moses audibly through the burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt to deliver the Israelites, God’s chosen people, from the hands of Pharaoh. In other words, God sent Moses back to his point of personal failure to accomplish a divine work. I believe God wants to do the same for you if you dare to return to the point of failure and allow God to use your mistakes as a vessel for His glory.

Take time to read today’s scripture passages and reflect on some of the areas in which you have experienced failure. What did that failure teach you about yourself and God? Are you living authentically or on the backside of the desert? If you surrendered your failure to Him, how could God use it to move you toward your potential?