Years ago, a four-year-old boy lost his father, and with him, life as he knew it.
Shortly after his father’s death, creditors showed up at their family home, taking their possessions to pay debt. They took everything—even down to the firewood used to provide warmth for him, his mother, and his nine siblings.
This boy only attended school until the fifth grade, and he had difficulty with both speaking and reading. Still, his mother pushed him and his siblings to read the Scripture consistently, so he did, the best he could.
Unfortunately, as this young boy turned into a young man, unresolved pain in his heart often led him to sway from God. Every time he would, an older gentleman named Mr. Kimball would find him, encourage him, disciple him, and believe him. He would say, “Young man, God has a great plan for your life. Don’t you ever give up on it!”
Thankfully, this boy listened. He never gave up, despite the many trials he experienced and the countless personal weaknesses he identified. By the end of his life, I’d imagine he achieved more than even Mr. Kimball thought he would.
This boy’s name was D.L. Moody, and today, he is considered one of the greatest evangelists to have ever lived. In his lifetime, he won one million souls to Christ, and became one of the most prominent preachers throughout America’s Third Great Awakening.
Friends, this is redemption. And it’s what Jesus died to bring—not just to D.L. Moody, but to every one of us.
Thank God, His beautiful redemption doesn’t rely on our strength, because none of us is strong enough to do anything eternally significant on our own! Instead, it relies upon us recognizing our weaknesses and allowing God’s strength to work through them.
The apostle Paul understood this, too. It’s why he wrote this to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “But he (the Lord) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
Like the apostle Paul, we don’t need to live embarrassed by our weaknesses. We can use them as a chance to be empowered by God! Instead of growing discouraged by our shortcomings, we can live delighted by the opportunity to allow God’s grace working in us to bring Him glory!
So how do we do this? Like the Apostle Paul, how do we allow the weak spots of our past to make way for a significant future? Like D. L. Moody, how do we impact others beyond our ability?
We embrace what God believes about us—over what any other person, circumstance, or weakness tries to tell us. Then, we delight in His development of us, doing what it takes to be the person He has seen all along.
Our father has always been and will always be the God who redeems!
