The church is not made up of perfect people; it’s not a museum for masterpieces, it’s a hospital for those who have been hurt by life, even self-inflicted. Do you want to see the sort of people that God builds the church with? Prepare yourself for a shock. Colossians 3v5 says: ‘sexually immoral people, impure, lustful people with evil desires, greedy, idolaters’ and verse 7 says: ‘You used to walk in these ways in the life you once lived.’ These are the sorts of people God builds his church with. Now before we start getting offended and thinking that doesn’t apply to me, consider this:

• Three people who committed murder wrote most of the Bible: Moses, David and Paul were all guilty of murder… but because all three of them were repentant, God forgave them and used their lives in remarkable ways. How gracious is our God?
• The genealogy of Jesus himself, as recorded in Matthew chapter 1, includes five women, four of whom have very questionable credentials: Tamar committed incest with her father-in-law, Judah (Genesis 38:18); Rahab was a Gentile prostitute (Joshua 2v1); Ruth was an outcast Gentile, a Moabite (Ruth 1v4); and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, was an adulteress (2 Samuel 11:16). As one author wrote: “The shady ancestors of Christ show that He entered human history in the raw; as a willing descendant of its shame!” – That’s how much God loves us. – Shocking isn’t it? You just couldn’t make this stuff up! How wonderful that God should think of us so highly.

Adapted from The UCB Word For Today, 7/8/2010 and Explore Bible notes