From Max Lucado’s book ‘No Wonder They Call Him the Savior’:
They aren’t exactly what you’d call a list of “Who’s Who in Purity and Sainthood.” In fact, some of their antics and attitudes would make you think of the Saturday night crowd at the county jail. What few halos there are among this befuddled bunch could probably use a bit of straightening and polish. Yet, strange as it may seem it is this very humanness that makes these people refreshing. They are so refreshing that should you ever need a reminder of God’s tolerance you’d find it among these people. If you ever wonder how in the world God could use you to change the world, look at these people.
What people? The people God used to change history. A rag bag of ne’er-do-wells and has-beens who found hope, not in their performance, but in God’s proverbially open arms.
Let’s start with Abraham. Though eulogized by Paul for his faith, this Father of a Nation wasn’t without his weaknesses. He had a fibbing tongue that wouldn’t stop! One time, in order to save his neck, he let the word get out that Sarah wasn’t his wife but his sister, which was only half true.1 And then not long later, he did it again! “And then Abraham said of his wife Sarah, ‘She is my sister.'”2
Twice he traded his integrity for security. That’s what you call confidence in God’s promises? Can you build a nation on that kind of faith? God can. God took what was good and forgave what was bad and used “old forked tongue” to start a nation.
. . . . Then comes Jonah. God’s ambassador to Nineveh. Jonah, however, had other ideas. He had no desire to go to that heathen city. So he hopped on another boat when God wasn’t looking (or at least that was what Jonah thought). God put him in a whale’s belly to bring him back to his senses. But even the whale couldn’t stomach this missionary for too long. . . . .
And on and on the stories go: . . . One story after another of God using man’s best and overcoming man’s worst. . . .
The reassuring lesson is clear. God used (and uses!) people to change the world. People! Not super humans or geniuses, but people—he uses them all. And what they lack in perfection, God makes up for in love.. . .
Jesus later summarized God’s stubborn love with the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The same open arms welcomed him that had welcomed Abraham, Moses, David, and Jonah. No wagging fingers. No clenched fists. No, “I told you so slaps!” or “Where have you been? interrogations. If you ever wonder how God can use you to make a difference in your world, just look at those he has already used and take heart. Look at the forgiveness found in those open arms and take courage.
. . . .Never were those arms opened so wide as they were on the Roman cross. One arm extending back into history and the other reaching into the future. An embrace of forgiveness offered for anyone who will come. A hen gathering her chicks. A father receiving his own. A redeemer redeeming the world. No wonder they call Him the Savior. ~Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him the Savior (Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas Nelson, 1986,2004) 95-98
* Posts with a preamble asterisk * are for a more general audience, not specific to teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
