So many times as Christians we think because we came from a messed up past or because we did something wrong by the world’s standards (prison, murder, thieving, cheating, multiple-divorce, whatnot), God can’t use us, much less love us.

I am so happy to tell you that you are WRONG!

There is NOTHING in your past, NOTHING, that can keep you from God’s love. There is NOTHING that will keep you from walking in what He has put in you to do. There is a proviso, though – you have to believe that and let Him work through you.

If God only used perfect people to do His work on this earth – then there would be NO work being done out there. There isn’t one minister, Christian singer, teacher, evangelist, pastor, or anyone else doing anything for God, who is perfect or had a perfect past. Not one person. Zip. Nada. No one. Not even Jesus.

Ready? Jesus – you know, the One who died for our salvation? The One who is the only way we can get to heaven by believing that He not only died for us but rose again in three (3) days? The one person on earth you would think had a perfect past?

In His background – His lineage – are a woman who seduced her father-in-law, a harlot (prostitute, whore), a pagan who came from incest, and a woman who committed adultery with King David, who got her pregnant so he had her husband killed in war to cover it up).

You think your ancestry is bad?

Tamar (Genesis 38) entered the royal bloodline by disguising herself as a harlot and seducing Judah her father-in-law.  She ended up having Perez the one through whom Jesus comes.

Then comes Rahab (Joshua 2) who was a harlot/prostitute. She hid Jewish spies and helped them escape, thus saving herself and her family from the destruction of Jericho.  She married Salmon and they had Boaz who married…

Ruth (Book of Ruth): a Moabite pagan (her ancestry has its origin in the incest committed between Lot and his oldest daughter). She ended up married to Boaz. Their union produced a son named Obed, who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David, on and on until Jesus.

Then there is Bathsheba:  In the Matthew 1 lineage of Jesus, she is only referred to as “Uriah’s wife” (v6), emphasizing the fact that Bathsheba became King David’s wife only after committing adultery with David. She got pregnant.

David then arranged for her husband to be killed in battle to cover up their sin (2 Samuel 11-12). But David repented of his sin and had a genuine marriage with Bathsheba, resulting in the birth of Solomon, known for his wisdom, and in Jesus’ lineage.

There is a reason God would later say to Peter when clarifying that His grace is extended to all people: “What God has made clean, do not call common (or dirty)” (Acts 10:15)

“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”  God calls you clean. There is nothing holding you back – except yourself.

You may have a past like Jesus or you may have been one of those people – a prostitute, an adulterer, unsaved (hey, we all were) – someone outside God’s will. But you are not that person anymore.

People may want to judge you but God NEVER will. Do you know He knows exactly who you are and where you came from – and chooses you anyway? Look who’s in the ancestry of Jesus – whores, thieves, adulterers – and He used them mightily.

It’s time to stand up for yourself, call yourself innocent and face toward your future with a clean heart and mind – because according to God, YOU ARE CLEAN, PURE, WHOLE, and He is going to use you to further His Kingdom… if you will let Him!

♥