Have you ever noticed that God seems most interested in people who are unpretentious—those who are hopeless, those who have their share of desperation and defeat, those who are flawed and wounded, those in whom most of the world has given up on, those with nowhere to turn? God seems to have a soft spot in his heart for people who pray desperate prayers, who hold onto shattered dreams, who are trapped by wrong choices, who are estranged from society, often rejected.

God seldom makes his primary movement through those people whom you and I would be inclined to call the movers and shakers of the world. Some of the most gifted and talented, prominent and prestigious people have a tendency to use their gifts selfishly. God then has to look elsewhere for help. He ends up using people of more modest talents and even questionable reputations.

Consider the fact that God used Noah, a drunk; Abraham, a liar; Moses, a murderer; David, an adulterer; Jeremiah, depressed and suicidal; Elijah, burned out; Peter, the denier; Saul, a killer. The list goes on and on. God always seemed to work through the most ordinary and unlikely people who were on the very edge of social respectability.

This fact, however, is reassuring. It gives me hope. It gives me possibility.

I could be on that list, too. I, too, have a story. I am flawed. I am a sinner. I am broken and bent. I am a wretch, an outcast. My sinful condition is like a splash of ink in a glass of water; my flawed state permeates my whole being.

But, I’m loved. God knows my flawed condition. He knows my fallen state, and he loves me anyway. My ragged condition is no longer the most important thing about me. I was not created flawed. I was created in such a way that God said of me just as he said of Adam “very good.”

My identity is not found in my fallen and flawed status. My past is not my destiny. I may be unlovely, but I am not unloved. I have hope. I am not washed up. I am usable.

So are you.