3 Promises God Gives to Ordinary, Unfinished People Like You and Me
Something about a velvet couch and an open window lets me forget that I’m surrounded by a project. Drywall mud on the walls where the now-gone 90’s office space had been bracketed to the wall. Curtains, that had been folded under and clipped onto rings to brush the top of the desk, now suspended far above the floor. An entry table turned writing desk, still a color that clashes with the rest of the room.
I lean against the high side of the loveseat and prop my crossed feet on the other side. Sunlight makes the window glow, and from the second-story vantage point, I watch cars descending the hill into our neighborhood. This is home. These are the people we’ve gathered with in homes and front yards and garages.
It’s here where we started caring less about our unfinished home and more about being real. Less about dishes still in the sink and missed crumbs on the floor and more about keeping our door “easy on its hinges,” as Shannon Martin named it. Less about not missing out and more about being rooted and present.
The less-than-perfect in our lives deters us from building deep relationships. We check-list the things we must clean up, fix, or replace before we can welcome others into our space. Our list for ourselves is even longer. We fall prey to lies like we must not let on that we struggle. Try to cover up that we’re imperfectly human too. We feel like a poser because there’s a whole lot more mess in our lives than most know.
And yet, the unfinished space around me tells a different story.
God uses imperfect people on purpose.
God doesn’t want me to be a finished product before I open up my life. He uses me as-is. Not because I’m great, but because I don’t have to be. He’s got everything covered and I just have to show up. Be willing. Available. Authentic.
God doesn’t drop passive-aggressive hints to clean up our lives so he can use us. He’s not keeping tabs on our broken promises, the things we take for granted, or the Holy Spirit nudges we’ve ignored.
Thing is that God’s always been about what’s inside, not what looks pretty on the outside. He knows we’ll get it backward and upside down sometimes, but we’re still his plan A to let the rest of the world know the way He loves them.
He uses imperfect people on purpose.
Line up a man who made some seriously bad decisions and was still called “a man after God’s own heart,” a woman who couldn’t contain a chuckle at God’s seemingly outlandish promise to her, and uneducated and ordinary disciples whose compelling preaching had everyone scratching their heads, and I’d fit right in. An introvert who feels inadequate and quite human.
Just as I can enjoy my unfinished creative space, God can use work-in-progress me and you. Let’s look at three promises God gives us.
3 promises God gives to unfinished, ordinary people:
1. He gives us wisdom. We only have to ask.
James 1:5 tells us,
And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace.
TPT
We have access to wisdom. Infinite wisdom and relentless grace. We only have to ask our good, good Father for it.
God-gifted wisdom comes with a responsibility though. James 3:13 reminds us that
If you consider yourself to be wise and one who understands the ways of God, advertise it with a beautiful, fruitful life guided by wisdom’s gentleness.
TPT
Wisdom, like God’s other gifts, grows stagnant when we keep it to ourselves. God gives generously because what He provides is meant to overflow. Ripple. Be shared.
2. He shares the secrets of His heart with us.
We don’t have to wonder what’s on God’s mind. He tells us, not because we’re special but because we’re special to Him:
There’s a private place reserved for the lovers of God where they sit near him and receive the revelation-secrets of his promises.
Psalm 25:14 TPT
We’re not only privy to the scoop, we get the privilege of tucking in close enough to hear the way God’s heart beats for us, for all of us.
3. He shows us how to follow His plan for our lives.
God left the high-level plan, go and make disciples everywhere you go, but He didn’t stop there. King David’s prayer in Psalm 25:4-5 depicts a God who walks with us and gently guides us as we live it out:
Lord, direct me throughout my journey so I can experience your plans for my life. Reveal the life-paths that are pleasing to you. Escort me along the way; take me by the hand and teach me.
TPT
While we know God’s plan for our lives involves loving God and loving people, we see but a sliver at a time. How comforting to know that God doesn’t leave us alone to figure it out. He stays with us, graciously guiding us on how to live out His mission.
Friend, God knows the ways you doubt yourself. But His purpose for your life doesn’t require that you have it all together. The only prerequisite is to trust that our “weakness becomes a portal to God’s power” (2 Corinthians 12:10 TPT).
Here’s a prayer for ordinary, unfinished people.
Lord, here I am. Just me.
You don’t see my flaws and faults, hesitations and limitations. You see a perfectly loved child wearing Daddy’s clothes.
When I doubt myself, help me find the faith to trust You. And when I feel small, show me how great You are.
Just a friend over here in your corner,
Find out if you are ACCIDENTALLY building walls instead of friendships—and what to do about it!
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