I recall one Sunday afternoon when my family was about to go on a drive. We were all loaded up in the car when Dad realized he had forgotten something inside. So he pulled up to the front door of the apartment complex and ran inside. “I’ll be quick,” he promised, leaving the car running. What a mistake that was! When he came back outside, there was a woman paused on the sidewalk between the car and our front door, ready to give him a piece of her mind about the environmental damage we were causing by leaving our car running. What she yelled was something along the lines of “You stupid Americans are coming over here unwelcome, ruining our environment and our country. Leave Switzerland to the people. You’re not qualified to be here.”
Fair. Ish. It was our bad leaving the car running… but to call us unqualified seemed a little far. By the time Dad got back inside the car, he was chuckling. Confused, we asked Why are you laughing? That was so rude of her! … “My company,” he replied, “only hires people from outside of Switzerland if they can’t find someone within the country qualified to do the job,” He said. “If someone else was as qualified as I am for my position, I wouldn’t be here. I’m here because I’m the most qualified to be here.”
God would not have put you in the world if you were not the most qualified person for your calling.
My next point might seem paradoxical, but hear me out…
You are unqualified and here’s why:
God has a Word to get out. A few words, actually: Power. Love. Peace. Jesus Christ. Salvation. Abundance. Restoration. Healing. Everything He is and does, He wants creation to know. e is getting that word out through people, partnering with His creation. I can think of two major reasons why — 1. to build a relationship (working with us) and 2. to demonstrate His glory (working through us).
Isaiah 43:7 states, “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him” (NKJV, emphasis added).
You were created for God’s glory. This means that the main purpose for your life is to point back to God and say He deserves the glory. Your existence, your talents, your job, your family, etc. All of it should be evidence of God’s existence and power.
Wouldn’t it follow, then, that one of your most useful qualities to God is that you don’t have “what it takes”? Think about David and Goliath. If God had sent a 9-foot trained-from-birth warrior to represent the Israelites, who would have been praised for the victory? It would have been easy to look at the warrior’s physical strength and training as the explanation for his success. David, on the other hand, is the youngest man in his family. He has never been trained for battle, he isn’t part of the Israelite army, and he doesn’t even have armor. David’s victory, the victory of the “unqualified”, is a straight arrow to God.
God uses the same approach through Gideon (insecure > mighty warrior), Peter (unstable > rock on which the church was built), Paul (brutal persecutor > 1 Corinthians 13), etc. His existence and power is evident through the success of the unqualified. And if His purpose for us is to demonstrate His glory, as stated in Isaiah, then the least qualified will be the most qualified to fulfill that purpose.
The less qualified you are, the more qualified you are.
I wrote a little bit about my husband in my last blog “No Filter Needed”, but I want to go a little deeper into Tyler’s life right now. It’s a rather good story.
Tyler was born on March 1, 1994 with little chance of making it out of the hospital. Three months premature and just a little over two pounds, he was small enough to fit inside his dad’s hand. His vitals were dismal and his brain was flooded, to the point that the doctor started preparing his parents to say their goodbyes. God miraculously kept Tyler alive through weeks of medical complications, but the brain flooding still affected his early learning. A major speech impediment, difficulty concentrating, and a constant struggle to retain new concepts landed Tyler in special education classes throughout elementary and middle school. A simple math problem would take him two hours to complete, with help.
By the time he was a senior in high school, teachers didn’t have an observable “reason” to believe in his academic ability. In fact, many teachers told Tyler and his parents that the time and fees involved in college applications would be a waste; he shouldn’t bother because he wouldn’t make it in. Despite the discouragements, Tyler applied.
He had just sent in his application for RCTC when an someone influential in his life sent him a letter, the contents of which boiled down to, “Remember how difficult high school was for you? Remember how many times you failed? College will take a lot more work than you realize. I don’t want you to disappoint yourself by getting your hopes too high.”
The enemy’s plan is to convince you that you’ll never be qualified, and he’ll use any avenue he can find to do that. He’ll use other people’s comments: Don’t you have to be really smart to be a doctor?… What makes you think you’re good enough for her?… Applying for that scholarship is a waste of your time.” Those comments may come from so many directions that they start to echo in your own voice: I’m not creative enough to write music… I’ll never be smart enough for grad school… How could I be happily married when my family has a history of bad relationships?
That may be what the enemy says, but God says something different.
Tyler got straight A’s his first semester of college, in case you’re curious. He has made it on the Dean’s List multiple semesters and graduates this spring with a well-earned degree in aviation. He moved forward despite his early struggle. He moved in faith despite the letter.
If our ultimate purpose is to bring God glory, then the people you’ll see doing it best are those who knew they weren’t qualified but did it anyway
I’m not saying that if you have a particular gifting, God’s not going to use it. God gave you your natural talents in the first place. I’m not going to stop using my voice just because it’s a good one. My voice fits within my calling. But I’m called to go way beyond what a good voice qualifies me to do, and that’s the place where God’s glory is coming through — visual, tangible evidence that God exists. God is powerful. God qualifies me.
You can’t know what you’re qualified to do until you let God do it through you. If you don’t know what your calling is yet, I can tell you with 100% confidence that it’s much bigger than what you’re qualified to do. That means not saying no to a job opportunity because you think you’re not equipped, not dismissing college because you think you’re not smart enough, not giving up on good relationships because you think you’re incapable of keeping one. You are here — in your life, in your family, in your position — because you are the most qualified to be here. You are the most qualified to show God’s glory through your life. Show the world how impressive God is by moving forward in faith. Don’t use your (un)qualifications as an excuse. God will not let His glory go unnoticed.
-Catherine Lexvold
