“…God chose the foolish…of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak…of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27, NIV)
There’s an old saying, “God doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the called”. I’ve always liked that saying, however it has taken a long time for the truth of that to begin to be established in my heart.
Last night I had a very distressing dream. I dreamed that I was assigned some kind of a job, but I felt totally lost and helpless because I had no training whatsoever, and no proper equipment. Yet people in the dream expected me to do the job anyway. I could sense their disapproval and disdain for me; I felt totally lost and inept.
The dream continued with my trying to explain myself to them by saying that I had never done this job before. At first, this went nowhere, but finally (oddly, as some dreams are!) someone asked me what I thought was most important in order to do the job well? It was very interesting how my dream self responded: “Relationships – my relationship with God and with other people”, I said. Strange.
When I eventually woke up from this uncomfortable dream, I felt right away that it was significant. I knew I needed to pray and ask the Lord what in the world it meant, what he might be saying to me through it.
It seems that God’s way is to use those who are precisely as I was in my dream: aware of my inadequacy, what Scripture often refers to as “poverty”. “Blessed are the poor in spirit”, says Jesus. Blessed – happy, is the exact meaning of that Greek word – are we who realize how “poor”, how ill-equipped we are to obey God’s call to follow Jesus in love, and to spread the Good News to “all nations”. For when we humbly own up to our weakness, God shows himself strong on our behalf (see 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10). When we lack wisdom, God generously provides what we lack (see James 1:5-6). Indeed, I often feel inadequate to share my faith boldly with people around me, especially if they’re critical and don’t seem at all interested.
What I think my dream is telling me is that I don’t have to be especially trained or even have the “right equipment” to be an evangelist. I just have to stay very close to Jesus, abiding in him and cultivating the privilege of my friendship with him. And I need to be loving enough and available enough to introduce those around me to my Friend in simple, everyday ways.
God is the one who will prepare hearts, but he chooses to employ me, inadequate and unequipped as I feel and am. For through the humble acknowledgement of my ineptitude, his strength, wisdom and love shine through. He does indeed equip those he calls, that all glory may be his!
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Lessons From Love School 
At the end of the day it’s all about God’s glory. Lest we forget that everyone God used in both the Old and New Testaments were not equipped as we understand the definition of the word to accomplish much. However, God used them to demonstrate His glory. He doesn’t call the wealthiest, most attractive, most educated, or any of the standards the world uses to measure the worth of a person. All He seeks is a willingness to obey and serve Him, then stand back and see what God will do!
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