Ordinary and Willing

I have been reading back through the book of Acts over the past few days. Today I want to focus on a a specific verse...Acts 4:13 "The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures."

Ordinary? No special training? The boldness they had is what caught the people's attention. First off: Boldness-The trait of being willing to undertake things that involve risk or danger, The quality of standing out strongly and distictly. Peter and John weren't going to let anything stop them from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even to the point of getting thrown in jail. Nope, didn't even make them hesitate. Yet, we hesitate and usually throw aside every single day the opportunities we have to share the Gospel... Just because we don't feel like it. Because we will do it tomorrow. Because we're scared... of what?? We don't even have to come close to worrying about getting thrown in jail here. In other countries there's that possibility but not here. And, we still fail to Boldly share the Gospel, let alone, share the Gospel period. Standing out strongly and distictly... That's the last thing we want to do here. We do everything we can to fit in. Looks like we have this a little backwards. We are to stick out. Be noticeably different. Be bold.

Secondly: Ordinary- With no special or distinctive features; Normal. Peter and John were ordinary guys! They were normal! They were just like everybody else! Yet, they were willing to be used by the Lord. They had no special training in the Scriptures. They didn't go to school for 10 years. They weren't the "high-class" guys who had everything in order and perfect. They were just ordinary people like you and I. But they were obediant to the Lord and proclaiming His Name with Boldness. Maybe it can be difficult to share the Gospel with people because they don't see our excitement in living for the Lord. Maybe it's difficult because we fail to preach His Name with Boldness. The people were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they saw that they were ordinary men.

Who did Jesus use in this scripture? Ordinary men. So what does that mean? That means He can use me! He can use you! The Lord wants to use us!! He wants to use ordinary people. You don't have to have a lot of money to be used by Him. You don't have to wear the most in style, expensive clothes and drive the newest car to be used by Him. You don't have to be able to speak well to be used by Him. You don't have to be a certain age before you can be used by Him. No. Just ordinary people. He doesn't need us... He doesn't have to have us.. But He chooses to use us! He chooses to look past our dirty sinful selves and He finds beauty in us! What a privilege it is to be used by God. The Creator of the universe wants to use us. The Creator of the stars, planets, galaxies wants to use us. The Man who created us out of dust wants to use us. The One who holds this entire world in the palm of His hand wants to use us.

May we proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ with boldness, letting nothing get in our way. He wants to use you. Ordinary and Willing. Will you let him?