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RELEVANT
Good News - Broward Edition
46
October 2012
Cory Nickols
Good News
What do Abraham, Jacob,
Moses, Rahab, King David, the
Apostle Matthew, the Apostle
Peter, the woman at the well, the
woman caught in adultery and the
Apostle Paul all have in common?
They all made big mistakes in the
eyes of theworld, but Godwent on
to use them to do extraordinary
things for Him – they were all
cracked pots that God displayed
His power through.
Abraham took his wife’s
maidservant as a second wife,
because he and his wife doubted
that God was capable of providing
a child by natural means in their
old age. He also lied to Pharaoh
because he was afraid for his life.
Jacob cheated Esau, his older twin
brother, out of his birthright.Moses
killed a man. Rahab was a
prostitute, KingDavid had an affair
with Bathsheba, another man’s
wife, and then had her husband
killed. The ApostleMatthewwas a
ruthless tax collector that cheated
people out of money, and the
Apostle Peter was constantly
getting into troublewithhismouth.
He even cut off the ear of one of the
high priest’s servants and then
denied even knowing Jesus three
times. The Apostle Paul stood and
watched the stoning of Stephen
with consenting approval. Hewent
on to persecute many Christians
before finding Christ himself, after
throwing as many as he could in
prison for following Christ.
Despite these men and
women’s character flaws and
shortcomings, they all were used
significantly by God to carry out
His purpose on earth and were
treasured, valued and considered
His very own children. You might
be wondering how God could use
such people, or any of us, for that
matter! The Bible says, “For we
have all become like one who is
unclean ceremonially, like a leper,
and all our righteousness (our best
deeds of rightness and justice) is
like filthy rags or a polluted
garment…” (Isaiah 64:6AMP). This
simply means that, even on our
best days, our performance falls
way short of God’smoral standard.
The Apostle Paul explains it this
way: “God saved you by his grace
when you believed. And you can’t
take credit for this; it is a gift from
God. Salvation is not a reward for
the good things we have done, so
none of us can boast about it”
(Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT). There is
nothing we can do to earn God’s
forgiveness, love or eternal life. We
must receive it freely by faith inHis
Son. In other words, we gain
something from God we don’t
deserve – it’s called grace!
All of these men and women
in the Bible experienced God’s
unconditional
love
and
acceptance. God worked through
them, not because they had a
perfect track record, but because
they learned to place their
complete hope, confidence and
trust inGod andHis righteousness
Cracked Pots
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