Unlikely Hero
October 19, 2025
Dr. Paul Cannings
Why would God choose to work through imperfect people rather than only with those like Job or Daniel, individuals so righteous they rarely stumbled? Why use someone like Abraham, who lied about his wife being his sister and slept with Hagar? Or David, who committed adultery and murder? Or Solomon, who gathered a thousand women and yet wrote Song of Solomon? Why would Christ choose Peter, not John, but impulsive Peter to preach at Pentecost? Or Paul, who once persecuted believers and took part in Stephen’s death, to write half the New Testament? Why would a perfect, righteous, and holy God display Himself through such flawed people?
When mankind sinned God’s entire focus was to redeem mankind back to Himself (Gen. 3:15). Paul put it this way; “For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.” (Rom 5:15-16; NASB) The purpose is for us to go from a glorious beginning to a glorious ending (2 Cor. 3:18). A journey where our imperfections are continually being perfected as a result of God’s love for us (John 3:16). Yet, this journey unfolds in a world still under Satan’s influence (1 John 5:19). Added to this, he goes to heaven day and night seeking to destroy us (Rev. 12:9-10), and Christ allows even these attacks to refine and strengthen us (John 10:10). Our struggle, then, is not only with our own weakness but also against spiritual opposition.
Christ uses these imperfect people to become a cloud of witnesses as we run this race. Peter who had a passionate desire to follow Christ, was not afraid of challenges (walking on water; Matt. 14:22-28-36) or building a tabernacle for Moses, Elijah and Christ, but made numerous mistakes. Barak lacked courage, yet God found a way to establish a victory for Israel through him. Moses was a great leader who wrestled with anger. Jacob was a patriarch who was deceptive until God found a way to leave him with a limp and a new name.
Christ redeems sinners who were not seeking Him (Romans 3:9-11), and knows that, even after salvation, we will still fall short (1 John 1:8-9). None of this surprises Christ. It is part of His divine design: “but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God.” (1 Cor 1:27-30; NASB)
You do not have to be perfect to be saved or used by Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-8). We must only avail ourselves to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), our commitment to practice the scriptures so we grow spiritually (Hebrews 5:11-14), and our humility to accept His loving discipline (Hebrews 12:6).
Those whom He chooses to love abides in His Word (John 14:15; 15:8-10), and all things will work out for their good if they continue to practice His Word throughout their trails (Romans 8:28). This transformation process allows us, like in the case of the Apostle Paul, to move from doing what we should not do (Romans 7:14-25) to becoming what Christ desire for us to be, which ultimately is to be just like Him (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 2:21). We must each day press to this mark (Phil. 3:12-16) like all those before us so that we run and not faint (Gal. 6:9-10) and miss our rewards (Gal. 6:9-10; James 1:12; Hebrews 11:6; Rev. 3:10, 21). We do not have to be perfect. We only need to let Christ, through the Holy Spirit, complete the good work He began in us (Phil. 1:6).