All of us wish our lives were like they are on social media. When you post a picture of yourself online, you probably do everything possible to make sure that you look as good as possible. But life doesn’t come with a host of filters that you can use to clean up all the rough edges.
Can God use the parts of your story that you would like to forget?
If your life read like a novel, how many chapters would you like to go in and remove? If you had editorial rights over your story, are there entire portions that you would delete?
If we’re being honest, all of us would answer that question with a resounding yes. All of us have portions of our story that we would like to forget and spend time hoping that others either forget it too or that they never know about it. Our life stories don’t work like our social media posts.
When you share something online, you have the ability to control the narrative, apply filters, and do everything else to ensure that people are seeing the version of you that you want them to see. Life doesn’t work that way.
Instead, we’re forced to live our lives with the knowledge that our regrettable chapters are a part of the story. Perhaps your younger years were filled with bad decisions that still haunt you today. Perhaps you have a failed marriage or two in the past that you wish you could forget.
Maybe you’ve been less than honest in your professional life, and while you’ve advanced, you now regret the things you did and the people you hurt in your pursuit of the top. There are things we would love to erase, but life doesn’t come with an eraser.
That leaves us to ask the question: can God use the bad parts of my story? Do my failures preclude me from truly being an active part of His Kingdom?
When we read the Bible, we often find ourselves awestruck by the faith and the power of the men and women that we read about, but all of them have some parts of their story that they would’ve liked to erase. God still used them, and He even used the things that they wanted to forget.
David
1 Samuel 13:13-14 (ESV)
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.
The “man after God’s own heart” in this verse was David. David’s pursuit of the heart of God was the reason that God chose him to be the successor to Saul who proved to be a wicked king.
When we read that verse, we assume that David was a perfect man. Afterall, if he was really after the heart of God, he had to be righteous in every area of his life, right? Actually, David was just as flawed as we are.
In 2 Samuel, we read about a part of David’s story that he would probably have liked to forget. However, the Holy Spirit ensured that David’s failure was captured in Scripture. When David was supposed to be leading his troops in war, he was at home. While there, he saw a woman bathing on the roof of a nearby house.
After asking about the beautiful woman, he found out that she was married to one of the people who were out fighting in David’s name. Instead of forgetting about her and moving on, David began an illicit affair with the woman that resulted in her pregnancy. In his attempt to cover things up, he had her husband murdered. Not only was David an adulterer, but he was also a murderer.
However, God didn’t give up on David. Instead, David repented, God forgave, and David continued his reign over Israel. However, we can safely assume that the experience changed David forever.
Once you’ve truly experienced the forgiveness and the grace of God, you’re more willing to dispense forgiveness to others. God used David’s failure to forever change him, making him an even more gracious king than he was before.
Peter
Acts 2:14 (TPT)
Peter stood up with the eleven apostles and shouted to the crowd. “Listen carefully, my fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem. You need to clearly understand what’s happening here.
Peter was often the disciple who was willing to speak up. Unfortunately, Peter’s boldness often landed him in trouble. Not only did Christ openly rebuke Peter on at least one occasion, but the Bible also tells a story about a night where Peter’s mouth led to him doing the unthinkable.
On the night Christ was arrested, Peter was vocal about not even knowing who Jesus was. The same Peter who had spent the last three-plus years walking with Christ told people that he had never even met the man on the night that Jesus needed friends the most.
Surely, that would lead to disqualification, wouldn’t it? Would God be willing to use a man who swore that he didn’t even know His Son?
It’s not a coincidence that God used Peter’s mouth on the day of Pentecost. The same mouth that often led to Peter getting into trouble, and the same mouth that Peter used to deny Christ on three occasions was the same mouth that God used to bring the New Testament Church to life.
God used Peter’s boldness to deliver the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Peter stood and preached with such anointing and power that 3,000 people were saved in a single day! God can use your weak points to serve His purpose.
If He was able to use Peter’s mouth, which was often viewed as Peter’s worst feature to serve an incredible purpose, He can use the parts of your life that you would like to forget.
Paul
1 Timothy 1:15-16 (TPT)
I can testify that the Word is true and deserves to be received by all, for Jesus Christ came into the world to bring sinners back to life-even me, the worst sinner of all! Yet I was captured by grace, so that Jesus Christ could display through me the outpouring of his Spirit as a pattern to be seen for all those who would believe in him for eternal life.
Before his conversion, Paul’s name was Saul. Not only did God give him a new life, but He even gave him a new name! Why? Because Paul’s story was filled with sin, hatred, violence, and even murder. Before he became a missionary and the author of most of the New Testament, Paul went to different cities so he could arrest, persecute, and even murder Christians.
However, Paul didn’t shy away from his past failures. In this letter to his apprentice, Timothy, Paul labeled himself as the “worst sinner of all.” Paul didn’t just consider himself a sinner, he truly believed that he was the biggest sinner who God had ever saved.
Since Paul was willing to acknowledge his messy past, God used it as a way to reach even more people. After all, if God could save Paul, was there anybody that He couldn’t save?
Of course not! Paul, while regretful of his past, was willing to allow God to use the bad parts of his story to further the Kingdom. We can do the same thing. While you certainly don’t have to boast of your past sins or open yourself up to everyone, your conversion story can serve as a powerful tool.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I know that You have seen every part of my life, even the parts that I would like to forget. Also, I know that You still want to use me for Your purpose. Help me to avoid shame and self-condemnation and allow You to use every part of my story for Your glory. In Christ’s name, Amen.