In today’s culture, it gets really easy for people to believe they are qualified and entitled to things. I can list off my own achievements and talents in order to convince someone why I deserve leadership, advancement, or a job. As I start to look back over my past 2.5 years at IU (I still have 1.5 to go… I’m not a senior yet), I immediately think of all that I’ve achieved, or the leadership positions that I’ve held. I so quickly forget that I was never qualified for any of these positions – I never knew enough or had enough experience, instead I have a God who has shown His mercy on me many times.

Truth: I am qualified for death on a cross. My sins, in a fair world, should disqualify me, and everyone for that matter, from leading anyone, especially leading anyone into a deeper relationship with the Lord. No matter how many good things I do, I can never overcome my depravity.

Enter: Grace and Mercy. Because I have a God who loves me, He has given me so many opportunities to lead. He has equipped me with talents to make me success, but not for my own sake, instead He asks that I use everything that I’ve been given to bring glory to His name. Every time I get to watch the light bulb go on in someone’s head, watch one of my disciples wrestle through a difficult passage of scripture and get it, or I get to serve someone, it is out of God’s immeasurable grace. He knows I don’t deserve it.

In everything I achieve – and in every failure for that matter – my eyes should turn to My God, My Rescuer, My Redeemer, and My Savior. As I remember how many great opportunities I’ve been given in my time here at IU, I start to see all the more graceful God is. I haven’t deserved a single opportunity, but I’m so thankful for a God has uses me despite my inadequacies.

As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to now nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”