(Un)Qualified: How God Uses Broken People to Do Big Things

by Steven Furtick

Peace and confidence come through one thing: acceptance. In a culture fixated on self-improvement and self-help, that might seem counterintuitive. But it’s true. First, God’s unconditional acceptance of you. God knows your true identity—the real you—and he loves you just as you are.

Second, your acceptance of yourself, including your weaknesses. That means confronting the parts of you that you may prefer to ignore. And it means knowing who you are (and who you are not) in and through Jesus. And third, your acceptance of God’s process of change. God’s work in your life isn’t meant to squelch or eradicate the real you but rather to bring out the best possible version of you.

you are overestimating your shortcomings and underestimating your gifts. Maybe the fact that you don’t currently measure up to the expectations you or other people have isn’t a deal killer. Maybe God wants to do something

beyond your abilities, and he is far less intimidated by your failures and limits than you are.

Insecurity, comparison, manipulation, pretense—they all come from a wrong understanding of what it means to be approved and qualified by God.

Humility—true humility—isn’t putting yourself down. It’s recognizing that you owe everything to God. It’s stepping into your destiny based not on who you are or what you can do but on who God is and what he will do through you.

Maybe you think or say, “I am…pathetic.” But God responds with You might feel that way, but you took my name. And I am…powerful. And if I am in you, you aren’t pathetic anymore. You have all the power that’s in my name.

Do you see how revolutionary this is? It is not a threat to bludgeon us into obedience. It is permission to act like who we really are…in him. God is giving us the gift of identity. His identity. His sufficiency. His qualifications. God wants to give you his name in your situation, in your weakness, and in your need. But you have to take it. You have to learn to use it.

When you come face to face with your failure, it’s far too easy to give up on yourself. To accept the labels and limits and lids that your past might seem to require. I am sinful. I am unfaithful. I am addicted. I am disgraceful. I am unworthy. But in Christ your accusers are gone. And the one whose opinion matters most stands before you, a smile on his face and tenderness in his eyes. He tells you there is hope. There is a future. You can live a different kind of life. You can become the person he meant for you to be.

let me emphasize that the presence of sin doesn’t automatically disqualify you from pursuing God’s plan for your life. If that were the case, we’d all be hopelessly disqualified, because we all sin. God blesses us despite our sins, and he is sovereign enough and good enough to use even our mistakes for his glory.

if

your weakness isn’t clearly a sin, maybe you don’t need to be in such a hurry to eradicate it. Your first step is to figure out whether God wants you change it or to simply embrace who y...

God says that he gives us both “the desire and the power” to do his will (Philippians 2:13, NLT). If you have a deep-seated desire to do something, be someone, or change in some way, chances are high that God put the desire there, and he will help you achieve it—even against crazy odds.

What people notice about you can be incredibly revealing. The key is to know whom to listen to. You need people in your life who understand you, sharpen you, challenge you, and encourage you. When you find people like that, listen to what they say they see in you. You might be surprised how little your weaknesses bother other people and how obvious your strengths are to them.

The Enemy’s biggest win isn’t when he gets you to sin. He wins biggest when he gets you to lose sight of God’s acceptance of you. When he convinces you that your righteousness and relationship with God hang on your actions, you stay in a spiral of shame.

First of all, if you never hurt, suffered, or struggled, how could you develop the strength you need to sustain the blessings God wants to bring into your life? God also allows weakness in our lives to create a context that will showcase his strength. Paul said, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

whether we like it or not, our failures help keep us grounded, balanced, and healthy.

I’m not saying God intentionally sabotages our advance, but I’m also not saying it’s always the devil slowing us down. I’m convinced that God allows certain limitations because he knows what we’re ready for and when we’re ready. Limitations give us both time and motivation to grow into the opportunities he wants to provide.

Our limitations and failures are also really good at keeping us connected to God. They help us draw closer to him. They remind us that we need him, that he is our source and our answer.

Another benefit of weakness is that it helps us relate to others. Often our most heartfelt and authentic connections with other people are

made through shared weaknesses. What comfort would you have to offer someone who is going through personal pain if you had no frame of reference? Your trials give you credibility to say to someone who is hurting, “I have been there too, and we’ll get through this together.” True empathy is an empowering gift you can give only after you’ve gone through something that revealed your own weakness.

Often our greatest influence is birthed in our deepest suffering and brokenness. Our education, our eloquence, and our intelligence are helpful, but they aren’t nearly as relatable as our weaknesses. We touch people around us because of the pain and humanity we share.

I heard someone say that the two words people need to hear the most when they’re hurting are not you should but me too.

In Jesus, our weakness is heaven’s secret weapon.

Walking with God is usually not a straight line from here to there. It’s a process that can be a little disorienting sometimes. And if we don’t understand the time element involved, if we don’t have right expectations, we can end up disillusioned and defeated. In churchspeak, we tend to look at the word salvation as past tense. We say things like “I was saved when I was sixteen.” Or “I’ve been saved for twenty years.” We treat it as if it were an event, but in reality it’s a process. The Bible talks about salvation in all three primary tenses: past, present, and future. When we put our faith in Jesus, we were saved. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith” (Ephesians 2:8). That’s past tense. It’s done. It’s accomplished. And it happened in a moment. But we are also being saved. Present tense. “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). That speaks about the process of change, of growth, of depth. And then there’s a future element to salvation. We will be saved. “This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4–5).

We were saved, we are being saved, we will be saved. There’s no doubt about it. Walking with God is a lifelong experience. And beyond.

The only real battle I have to win…is the one within.

Comparison is a silent killer. It steals our joy and undermines our

relationships. It causes us to criticize events we should celebrate, reject people we should learn from, and resent ideas we should embrace.

Comparison inevitably leads to competition.