No Superstars In God's Kingdom

Looks can be deceiving. Sometimes we see people that seem to be superstars when it comes to their spirituality. They seem to always have it all together and it looks like they probably never have a bad day. It's easy to imagine that their faith is always strong, their walk is always consistent, their circumstances are always what they want and they are gushing God out of their words, thoughts and deeds at every minute.

Don't fool yourself. There's no such thing. Don't misunderstand. Many of us are very sincere about our walk with Christ, including you. I'm just making the point that none of us have arrived. It's important to know that because if you think otherwise, you'll find yourself comparing yourself somebody else, imagining them to be something they're not.

I remember when I first began to have the opportunity to be around various Christians of notoriety. I found myself thinking, "Wow, they're just like me." I don't know what I'd expected but, as I spent time with some of these people, I was struck by how -- well -- ordinary they are. Which brings me back to my main point - there's no such thing as a superstar in God's kingdom. We're all in process and if you think you know somebody who has it all together at all times in every way, you can be sure you are starring at an illusion and not reality.

Don’t think for a moment that God uses people who have worked out their spirituality to the place where they’re in a different league than you. The truth is they are more like you than you may want to know, but you need to know it because, by knowing that there are no Super Saints, you may be more likely to believe that God can use you to advance the cause of His grace in this world and, even more difficult than that these days, in His church.

One guy said to me, “If you only knew the things I’ve done, you’d know why God couldn’t use me.” “Really?” I asked. “Are the things you’ve done worse than murder? Adultery? Stealing? Lying? Drunkenness?” Read the list of those mentioned in Hebrews 11, the “faith-chapter” that lists those set forth for us as examples of faith from biblical history. Look at their lives individually. They did everyone of those things and more.

As you consider their sins, remember that the sinful things they did were, for the most part, after they had been called by God and began to follow Him. So don’t try to fall back on the yeah-but-my-sins-were-done-after-I-trusted-Christ excuse. So was theirs.

Check out that list in Hebrews 11. Then go back and look at the things the Old Testament tells us about what they did. After doing that, you may be inclined to ask, “Is this the best God can do if He wants to give us a list of people who had great faith and were mightily used by Him?” Yes, it is. So don’t think God can’t use you.

Don’t believe for one minute that anybody who sets himself up above you today, as if he has some spiritual advantage you don’t have, is telling you the truth either. This whole idea of there being super-saints in the church today who are somehow different from the rest of us is an enemy tactic meant to discourage us from thinking God can use us. When we see them we may feel like we don’t measure up, but just remember looks can be deceiving. In spite of the way some religious leaders present themselves to us, the truth is that people are just people. We all have the same kind of struggles, doubts, temptations and weaknesses. If you doubt that, then ask yourself again why God listed the kind of people He did in Hebrews 11.

Maybe there’s a higher quality of saints in the world today? Maybe back then He listed them because there weren’t so many good examples as there are today? Yeah, right. You know that’s not true. People have always been the same and God has never looked for perfect people to use. He only looks for people who will completely trust Him – nothing else. You might not be able to clean up your act the way you’ve wanted to in the past but He isn’t asking you to do that. He’s just asking you to trust Him. You can do that much, can’t you?

I’m not suggesting that the gifts the Spirit has given to the church don’t distinguish some in ways that are different from others. What I am saying is that there are no second-class citizens in God’s kingdom and that you don’t have to think for one moment that you lack anything that would keep you from rising up at this very moment to be used by God. In Jesus Christ, you have been made complete because you have all of Him and in Him resides the fullness of Almighty God Himself.