Unlikely Heroes

God loves to use the most unlikely heroes. Think of some of the surprising choices He has throughout biblical history to be instruments to transformation.

He chose

…a novice boat builder named Noah
…an elderly patriarch named Abraham
…a stuttering shepherd names Moses
…a reluctant queen named Esther
…a confident senior citizen named Caleb
…a God-fearing prostitute named Rahab
…a young dreamer named Daniel
…a fig-picking prophet named Amos
…a prejudiced preacher named Jonah
…a terrified Benjamite names Gideon
…a patient ex-con named Joseph
…a converted tax collector names Matthew
…a determined cupbearer named Nehemiah
…a cricket-eating, camel-fur wearing, water-drenched baptizer named John


The same pattern holds true in church history.

He used

…a quirky monk named Luther
…a cross-eyed preacher named Whitefield
…an ambitious shoe salesman named Moody
…a teenaged pulpiteer named Spurgeon
…a lanky country evangelist named Graham


Maybe the secret of why God loves to use the unusable, the outcast, the off-putting, and the unlikely is tucked away in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29:

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.

Excerpt from OUTBREAK: Creating a Contagious Youth Ministry Through Viral Evangelism by Greg Stier.