How good do we have to be before God can use us?

As I've been reading Genesis again, one of the things that strikes me is how God is able to carry out His plan through the human race, not because of how good we are but in spite of how bad we are.

As I look at the lineage from Abraham on down I am left shaking my head to a certain degree.  You have Abraham telling people his wife is his sister.  Lying in other words.   You have Jacob dressing up like Esau to deceive his father Isaac.  You also had Isaac telling people that Rebekah was his sister instead of his wife. 

Then you have women not being able to get pregnant and giving their maids to their husbands to have kids with.  All sorts of jealousies and such.  You go down through King David and King Solomon and you find murder, adultery, and worship of other gods.

These were all men of God and yet they all had their failings.  But out of this human line of sinfulness God was able to bring about His plan of salvation through His son Jesus Christ. 

That's really good news for us today.  Why?  Because it tells us that we don't have to be perfect to serve God.  He can use us just as we are, right where we are.  He only requires two things. 

First God requires that we believe in His son Jesus.  The other thing I believe God requires is that we earnestly and diligently want to serve Him.  Not the lip service kind of serving but real serving. 

Things like being in the Word daily, seeking God.  Things like when they announce at church that they need something done and you right away go "Ya, I can take care of that.  Got it covered".  That type of serving.  Being willing to do whatever God puts on your heart to do for the cause.

So don't wait, step up to the plate and let God know that you truly want to serve Him.  You won't believe the miracles that can come from that!