Friday, April 1, 2011

God's Joke

As Paul continues his first letter to Timothy (I Timothy 1:12-17) he marvels at how the Lord put him in the ministry. We don’t think about that enough. We’re all in the same boat. It’s easy for us to think that we’re something special because we’re actually doing the work that God has called us to do while other people aren’t doing what they should. But we read what Paul is saying here and he is amazed that God would count him faithful and put him in the ministry.

Think about this. If you owned a business and you found out that one of your employees was taking money from the cash register, would you trust that employee to carry your money to the bank? Would you even let that employee do anything other than maybe stock shelves? It isn’t likely. And yet, God has take those of us who have sinned against him and are worthy of punishment, and he has put us in the ministry. Look at what happened with the angels. Those who sinned were thrown out of heaven. God could have used the faithful angels to do his work and he often does, but he has allowed us to do his work when we have no right to that privilege. He has empowered us to do his work.

But Paul does more than just marvel. He gives us a reason for why God put him in the ministry, even considering all he had done, “that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering as a pattern for those who should hereafter believe in Him to life everlasting.” In other words, if Jesus Christ will take the chief of sinners and turn him in to a great minister of the gospel, then we can expect to see the same thing happen with other sinners who have accepted Christ as their savior. We don’t all have the same ministry, but Jesus gives us all the privilege of serving him.

Somehow, that just seems appropriate for April Fool’s day. God takes the worst people and turns them into his greatest servants.