A common theme

Every once in a while a thought comes to me that really helps me understand things differently.  I have been trying to read a lot and when I do it often leads to deeper conversations with my wife about how I view things or how I see something different than I used to.

A while back, as I was thinking about all the Bible in general, it occurred to me a common theme that is not often shared.  We often hear all the good stories that are in the Bible. We hear the stories of what Christ did and how that gives us hope, we hear the stories of the great works that someone did, but what we don't often hear about or focus on are the "failures."  The Bible is full of "failures."  The more I read through, the more I find stories where someone has "failed" in terms of how we view things on earth.  David committed adultery, Peter denied Christ after spending years with Him, Paul persecuted followers of Christ, Moses ignored what God told him to do...and the list goes on and on. 

All these people would be considered failures in the Christian world, yet these are exactly who God used.  I find it amazing how God can take those who seem the farthest from Him and do a work in their lives to use them for His glory.  Often times, they are used even more so than those who claim to have known Christ their whole lives.   Why is that? 

Could it be because that actually recognize a deeper realization for their need for Christ?  They understand in their hearts what so many of us say we understand, but only have an intellectual understanding of what it means therefor causing us not to truly realize how lost we are without Him?  I've heard it time and time again from various people who say that wish they had a better story to tell. They wish they had been caught up in the party scene, living a hopeless lifestyle just so they could have a better story to tell.

God loves the "failures."  He can use them because when they turn to Him, they know what they have to give up.  They know it is going to cost them.  They know that there is hope beyond the now.

I've written several times recently about how story in our lives is important.  How we need to understand our story we are living and we need to evaluate and see if it is the story we want to live. 

I have come to the realization that Bible has a clear message about how God has taken people who are "failures" and helped them write a story beyond who they were.  He can help us write similar stories if we let Him. 

The Bible is a message of hope....a message of hope for all of us "failures."