1 Peter 2:19-20 (NKJV) 19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

Many of us have lived our lives knowing what it feels like to try to please our earthly Father, so what is it in the passage above that is commendable before our Heavenly Father?

Do you have a conscience toward God, a mind that turns immediately to Him, when enduring hardships?

Everyone’s grief, wrongful suffering, beatings, etc., all look very different. What is it that you’re currently experiencing at work, home, church, in a relationship, school, etc.?

I’m sure there’s been someone on your mind that you’d like to blow up at or get back at because of something they said to you or did to you, but how would God have you deal with the situation at hand?

Practicing His Presence,
Nate

In Mark 1:40-41 below we have an awesome opportunity to witness Christ’s example of compassion right before our very eyes. In Bible times those with leprosy were outcasts…lived outside the community, far away from others because their disease was contagious and there wasn’t a cure for it at that time. They were viewed as unclean people and cursed by God. What I want us to consider from this passage is what Jesus’ compassion led Him to do. Just think about what His onlookers and skeptics must have been thinking. My questions for each of us individually are as follows, “Am I moved with that much compassion that I’d be willing to reach out and meet the need of someone around me today? Am I willing to get dirty for the sake of someone getting clean and right before the Lord? Am I willing to be Jesus with skin on to them? What would happen to them if they’d allowed Jesus into their lives?
Practicing His Presence,
Nate
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Mark 1:40-41 40 A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said. 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!”

College coaches seek out the 5-star recruits and ignore the athletes who may not have even lettered in High School.
Professional sports teams look for the most decorated athletes to add to their program. Owners don’t travel to watch city-league participants…they want the best of the best.
Hollywood does everything it can to get some of the most attractive and or most talented actors/actresses into their movies. They know what makes for the perfect story and for the best seller.
College and Universities don’t advertise for volunteers, they look for qualified individuals to be Professors within their institutions.
God doesn’t operate like that. Oftentimes, He chose the most unexpected or unpopular characters to include on His team…in His story.
What about you, do you believe that God is including you in His story?
Or do you feel like God couldn’t possibly plug you in somewhere? 
Let’s take some time to reflect on some unexpected characters that He chose to include in His story throughout scripture:

• Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit.
• Noah was a drunk.
• Abraham was too old. He denied his marriage to Sara before Pharaoh, out of fear for his life.
• Isaac was a daydreamer. He favored his eldest son, Esau but this proved fatal within the family relationship. His bias almost cost the lives of both sons, Esau and Jacob. 
• Jacob was a liar and cheater. He had deceived his father, Isaac, for the birthright! Jacob could not wait for God’s plan to come to fruition. His impatience and unfaithfulness caused him to behave treacherously before his earthly father and God. He took advantage of the elderly Isaac’s blindness and infirmity by pretending to be his elder brother, Esau. This action caused him to flee for his life from the wrath of Esau. 
• Leah was ugly.
• Joseph was abused.
• Moses had a stuttering/speech problem. He murdered an Egyptian and had anger issues…struck the rock out of disobedience to God.
• Gideon was afraid. His fear caused him to doubt God, and this initially made him reluctant to accept God’s mission. It took several tangible signs from God before he found the courage to proceed.
• Samson was a womanizer…he chose to become infatuated by the physical beauty of heathen women. This infatuation with Delilah proved fatal to his mission as judge and deliverer of Israel. 
• Rahab was a prostitute.
• Josiah was an 8-year old King.
• Jeremiah and Timothy were too young.
• David lived in immorality and had an affair with Bathsheba…he was an adulterer and a murderer.
• Solomon accumulated 700 wives and 300 concubines…some from heathen / pagan nations. He became obsessed with wealth and power.
• Elijah was suicidal. He feared for his life and ran away from the queen’s threat! He was shortsighted concerning God’s protection, and this caused him to fall into deep isolation when he was in hiding. He took refuge by himself, rather than in God who had sent him on a mission. 
• Isaiah preached naked.
• Jonah ran from God.
• Naomi was a widow.
• Job went bankrupt.
• Hezekiah fell seriously ill. On the brink of death Hezekiah pleaded with God to extend his life and God healed this faithful king. Unfortunately, Hezekiah soon forgot God’s miraculous healing. It would have been a perfect opportunity to become a witness to God’s power. Instead, in pride and arrogance, he chose to flaunt his possessions before foreign dignitaries. This careless act earned him a sweeping rebuke and curse from God.
• John the Baptist ate bugs.
• Peter denied Christ three times.
• The disciples fell asleep while praying.
• Martha worried about everything.
• Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven demons.
• The Samaritan woman was divorced…more than once.
• Zacchaeus was too small and money hungry. He was brave enough to rob the people of their income by means of his corrupt taxation computations. Tax collectors in those days were corrupt to the core. Jesus even referred to them in a metaphor for anyone who refused to accept His teachings.
• Paul was too religious…A Pharisee who persecuted Christians before becoming one. Even considered himself the chiefest of sinners.
• The prodigal son is a household name for every family member considered a “black sheep”. Mesmerized by wealth, the young man left home to spend his inheritance. He was wildly reckless and wasteful with his resources, living a sinful life of lavish extravagance until all his fortune and hope was spent.
• Timothy had an ulcer.
• Lazarus was dead!
• The 12 Disciples.
  • Andrew, Peter, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, worked as fishermen.
  • Matthew, called Levi in the book of Luke, worked as a tax collector for the Roman government.
  • Simon was known as the Zealot, not strictly a profession, and as a Canaanite. Zealots engaged in politics and anarchy, attempting to overthrow the Roman government. He may have been a politician or a revolutionary.
  • Judas served as the treasurer in Jesus' band, and John 12:4-6 identifies him as a thief and an embezzler.
  • ​The Bible provides no information on the professions of Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Thaddaeus or James, the son of Alphaeus.
  • Paul, who became an apostle after the death and resurrection of Jesus. He was a Pharisee and may have taught religion or worked in political office. During his missionary journeys, Paul supported himself as a tent maker according to Acts 18:1-3.
• The repentant thief on the cross. His life had been one of endless criminality and qualified him to be sentenced to death in the most brutal and shameful manner—by hanging on a cross.
• Anyone from Nazareth. In John 1:46, Nathanael asks the question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”…Nazareth was a city roughly 55 miles north of Jerusalem. During the time of Jesus, the Jews held those from Nazareth, a city within the region of Galilee, in low esteem…The low view of Nazareth is important in understanding Matthew’s claim that Jesus “fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that He would be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23)…Nathanael’s mocking question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” foreshadows the fact that Jesus would be mocked more earnestly by others (cf. John 7:42). Nathanael asks the question because the Christ was seen as being the one who would deliver Israel from oppression. The long-awaited Messiah was to be held in the highest esteem. So why would He come from a place like Nazareth? “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” The surprising answer is “yes.” God chose to have His Son, the Savior of the world, live in Nazareth. “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:27–28). We see this often in Scripture: Joseph, Ruth, Gideon, and David all began in lowly, despised places, but God chose them and used them in great ways. Jesus was foolish and weak and lowly and despised in the estimation of this world (cf. John 19:1–5), and to top it off, He was from Nazareth. Jesus is the ultimate example of God utilizing the weak (according to human standards) to shame the wise (also according to human standards) for the purpose of glorifying Himself.
• Now let’s consider a group of people from the Christmas story…a group of people that I bet you never thought of or considered as flawed characters.
  • When you look at the Nativity scene, I bet you never questioned why any of the individuals are present?
  • In Luke 2:15 we read that, “So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’”
    • One author states that, “The shepherds who were the recipients of the angels’ message at the birth of Jesus (2:8-20) came from a despised class. Their job prevented them from paying much attention to the requirements of ceremonial cleanness, and as they moved round the country they had a distressing habit of pilfering [(stealing…petty theft)]. They were regarded as untrustworthy and were not permitted to give testimony in the courts of law.” An Introduction to the New Testament by D.A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris (pp. 130-131).
    • Notable Shepherds in the OT…David, Abel, Moses, Amos, and, for a time at least, Zechariah.

What kind of people did God choose to include in His story? Do you believe He has chosen to include you too regardless of what you’d consider deficiencies or flaws?

Song: Make Room by Casting Crowns https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYHpJnfy2lQ

• Is there room in your heart
  for God
  to write His story?

EVERYONE, A PART OF HIS STORY!!! That includes you, do you believe that?
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Resources Used and Included:

• https://www.jollynotes.com/biblical-examples-of-imperfect-people-god-used-in-the-bible/
• https://thoughtcatalog.com/jarrid-wilson/2014/06/god-uses-flawed-people-to-share-hope-to-a-flawed-world/
• https://chasinghopewithkatherine.com/twenty-flawed-bible-characters/
• https://www.gotquestions.org/can-anything-good-come-out-of-Nazareth.html
• https://www.theclassroom.com/what-were-the-professions-of-the-twelve-apostles-12083577.html