In Christian circles, we talk a lot about being "qualified" to lead. Being godly. Being spiritually mature. We want to represent Jesus well. We don’t want to stain his name with our mess.
And that makes sense... to our justice loving minds.
But here's the problem: nobody actually looks like Jesus—except Jesus.
Nobody is qualified.
Nobody is good.
No, not one.
The only one who was good—truly perfect—chose to become sin on our behalf. Not so he could start a club for the elite, the cleaned-up, the morally polished... but to make the unrighteous righteous. To make the broken whole.
Let that sink in: God doesn’t work with the A+ students. There aren’t any!
He doesn’t partner with the “most promising candidates.”
He doesn’t limit himself to the morally impressive.
All throughout the Scriptures, God doesn’t pick the best and the brightest. He picks the broken.
It would be like someone showing up to your church planting assessment with three wives in tow... and you still giving him the position.
Or like someone applying to your missions board after fleeing the scene of a crime.
Or like a pastor caught in adultery, arranging the murder of the woman's husband, and still being celebrated as a man after God's own heart.
That’s not a joke. Those are stories from the Bible.
The point? We’ve got to let go of this polished, performance-based image of who God works alongside.
The myth that God only partners with the spiritually elite needs to die. The gospel is not good news for the put-together—it's good news for sinners, failures, and fakes.
It’s for the ones who limp into the room with nothing to offer but weakness, fear, and trembling.
And it’s at that table—prepared by Jesus himself—that we lift our wine, break the bread, and proclaim:
“This is all grace. Every last bit of it.”
So stop disqualifying yourself.
Stop letting your shame, your past, your imperfections, or your ongoing struggles keep you from declaring the mysteries of the Kingdom.
Do you want to keep sinning? No, of course not.
Why? Because you’re afraid God will stop loving you?
Hell no.
You want to stop because sin makes life harder. It complicates things. It lies to you and steals from you.
But don’t believe for one second that your mess means you’re unworthy to participate in the Kingdom of the Beloved Son.
That’s a lie. That’s BS.
The good news is still good news for the foolish, the weak, the broken, and the messy.
So raise your glass, broken one.
You're exactly the kind of person God delights to work with.
