18th July - God Isn’t Waiting for You to Be Perfect - Even If You Feel Too Messy, Too Small, or Too Late"
- Dayle Kinney
- 1d
- 4 min read
When people write their autobiographies, they usually skip the messy chapters. You know the ones - regrets, breakdowns, the bad relationship they stayed in too long, the time they doubted God completely. Instead, you get polished highlight reels. But God’s not like that.
The Bible is brutally honest and doesn’t hide the flaws of the people it calls heroes. And becasue of that its weirdly comforting because it's not some fairytale filled with perfect people doing everything right.
It’s raw and real because God isn’t afraid to show us the whole picture. Why? Because it means there’s room in God’s story for people like us.
Think about David. He had a heart after God. He fought Goliath when everyone else was too afraid. He was the man of the moment. But fast forward a few chapters and he’s sleeping with another man’s wife, then arranging for that man to be killed in battle to cover it up.
If David were writing his own autobiography, do you think he’d include that part? Probably not. But God did.1 Samuel 17, 2 Samuel 11-12 NIV
• Peter denied Jesus and not once, but three times. Yet Jesus still chose him to lead and restored him.
• Andrew the disciple - He was always in the background. No spotlight. But he brought people to Jesus, again and again. Quiet, faithful, consistent.
• Rahab. She was known for all the wrong reasons. She had a reputation - and it wasn’t a good one. But when the time came, she chose God. She risked everything to help God’s people. And get this: her name ended up in the family line of Jesus. (Matthew 1:5).
• Mary Magdalene? She’d been through it. The Bible says she had seven demons cast out of her (Luke 8:2). She carried a past that would’ve made most people look away and cross the other side of the street to avoid her. But Jesus looked her in the eye, and trusted her with one of the most amazing and important moments in history: being the first person to witness His resurrection.
If Jesus can accept, love and write something amazing and beautiful with their lives, He can absolutely work in and through your life too.
Like Edward Kimball— a Sunday school teacher no one talks about. He almost didn’t share his faith with a teenage boy who worked in the shoe store with him. But he did. And that boy was Dwight L. Moody, who went on to preach to millions and impact the world for Jesus.
There are no huge buildings or cathedrals named after Edward Kimball, and probably not a lot of people even know his name. But God does and he used his willingness to share about his faith in Jesus to change the world.
Your story matters. Even the messy chapters. You just might be a Dwight Moody in the making or you may not be the one with the microphone. Perhaps, instead your'e the one giving the encouragement, the invite, quietly planting seeds, lifting people up, and showing Jesus in ordinary ways.
You don’t have to be the main character in someone else’s story. You just have to be faithful in your own. And when it’s all said and done, the question isn’t “How perfect, or loud, or known were you?” but rather, “Did your story make the most of the life you were given and did it point to Jesus?"
ACTION STEPS:
• Ask yourself: If I stopped waiting to be perfect or everything to make sense, how could God use me today? Start showing up and write the story you want your life to tell. One sentence, one choice at a time.
• Look around: Who’s your Dwight? Who in your life could you encourage, invite, or pray for this week? Don’t underestimate the power of a conversation, a prayer, a step of obedience. You might be someone’s Edward Kimball.
• Write it down: Start journaling your God-story as it unfolds. One day, you’ll look back and see the miracles.
THINK & SAY:"God’s not asking for everything to be perfect. He’s asking for available. My story matters even the messy parts - because it’s part of God’s bigger plan.
BIBLE VERSE:“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!’”Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
"Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us." (Ephesians 3:20 AMP)
PRAYER: Lord, thank You that You never waited for me to be perfect before loving and choosing me. Please use me today, just as I am and write something amazing in and through my life. In Jesus’ name Amen.