Since 1779, the primary recruiting slogan for the Marine Corps has been “We’re looking for a few good men.” This branch of our military clearly states they want the best. Numerous businesses likewise adopt this standard when searching for new employees. They pursue only the most qualified candidates. Pastors and para-church leaders look for mature and gifted people to head ministries. Nothing is wrong with employers following this principle. However, this mind-set does make it difficult for some individuals to find employment such as ex-cons, people that a previous company fired, individuals who lack critical thinking skills or a crude personality, etc. Living in a society that embraces such high ideals can unknowingly influence people’s spiritual journey. They may assume that God only wants the best and they never feel qualified. We’ve probably all witnessed to people or invited them to church and they reply, “Well, I have to clean up some areas of my life before I can do that.” You try and explain that no one can clean themselves up from sin. But they still decline. Then years later, we meet them again and discover they are still trying to clean up their life.
Charlotte Elliott’s hymn, JUST AS I AM, sums up the good news for all people; “Just as I am O Lamb of God, I come! I come!” She writes that those without one plea can come; those with a dark blot on their soul, those with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings within, and fears without, all can come. The religious leaders grumbled when Jesus went to Zaccheus the tax collectors’ house for a meal. Jesus replied, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk 19:10). We could paraphrase this that Jesus came to search for and give salvation to bad people. Paul adds, It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all (1Ti 1:15). Both Zaccheus and Paul were bad people. As a tax collector, Zaccheus had extorted people taking money by false accusations. Paul had approved of the stoning death of Stephen and by his own confession, I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons (Act 22:4). They were examples of bad people Jesus came to find, cleanse, and use in building His Kingdom.
Not only does God look for bad, lost, and sinful people to save, He desires believers who are overwhelmed and struggling to continue coming to Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest (Mat 11:28). It seems that it is human nature to hide when we do something wrong. Adam and Eve tried hiding after they sinned. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Gen 3:8). That’s like hiding from the doctor when we’re sick or have a serious injury. Jesus used this analogy when the Pharisees complained about Him eating with tax collectors and sinners. He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick . . . I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Mat 9:12, 13). God does not reject or forsake us when we stumble or even sin. Rather, as with Adam and Eve, He comes looking for us in order to restore us to fellowship and if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1Jn 1:9).
Another category God longs to help is Christians who have responded to God’s call and received salvation but feel inferior and unqualified to attempt any kind of ministry. We could add to my title, WANTED: The unqualified—will provide gifts and on the job training. Note from the Message Bible Paul’s words to the church at Corinth of the individuals God wants. Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies” (1 Corin 1:26-28 MSG)?
The military designs basic training so that it breaks the recruit down to nothing. Then they can rebuild him/her from the bottom up. We are already broken sinners when we come to Him for salvation. He forgives our sins, cleanses us (sanctification), and begins building us into the image of Christ. Boot camp for Marines, last thirteen weeks. For believers, the Holy Spirit is building us up for our entire life. Not one moment exist that we don’t need Him neither is there one moment that He is not waiting for us to come and to receive help.
Sustaining Word for the Week: WANTED: A lot of bad people. WANTED: Christians, who are failing, beat up, wounded, struggling, weak, unqualified, disliked, hopeless, rejected, suicidal, etc. ad infinitum. JUST AS YOU ARE. Come.