Have you noticed how oftentimes the very people we have classified as impossible to save have been marked by God as the next converts?

It's not uncommon at Calvary Chapel for long-lost friends to meet unexpectedly in a hallway, look quizzically at each other, and say in unison, "What are you doing here?" Seeing each other in church with a Bible in hand and a smile on their face just wipes them out. Neither thought the other could be saved.

I don't suppose very many people in the early church were praying for Saul's salvation. They were probably saying, "Lord, wipe that guy out. He is going to kill the church. Stop him, Lord!" They were probably hoping God would lower the boom in judgment.

But God had another way of stopping him, unlike anything they anticipated. God brought Saul's life to a halt as he was on the road to Damascus and there turned him around 180 degrees. Saul was reborn as Paul and became the greatest proclaimer in history of the gospel of grace.

God is a specialist at taking the unlikeliest of candidates and turning them into trophies of His grace. He is able to make a beautiful change in each of us. He can change our value systems and make us new creatures in Christ. He calls us to be examples of what His grace can do.

No One Too Small

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking God uses only "special" people - the strong, the intelligent, the beautiful. We don't think He has a place for the rest of us. We are so wrong!

God doesn't have "important" people. God uses ordinary people and works through plain people. That is why Paul wrote, "For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (I Corinthians 1:26,27).

God loves us ordinary folk and endows us with gifts so that we might fill our place in the body of Christ. Any ability we have is a gift from His hand. Everything we have was given to us. As Paul said in I Corinthians 4:7, "What do you have that you did not receive?"

How can I glory in my ministry as though I didn't receive it, as though what I am able to share is something of my genius or brilliance? Anything worthwhile I have came from God. There is no way I can be proud and boastful, as though I were somebody independent of Him. Apart from Him, I am nothing. Apart from Him, I can do nothing.

Men often develop an inflated view of their own importance and greatness and gloat over their place in the work of God. But the truth is, God doesn't need any of us. I'm sorry if that makes you feel unimportant, but it's true. He has chosen to use us, but He doesn't have to. He could just as easily use someone else.

To me, that is thrilling. I haven't been chosen to serve because I am so wonderful. God doesn't choose us because of our greatness or abilities or potential. He chooses us because He decides to choose us. Important, proud people do not like that. They are "above" being chosen... so usually they are not. God chooses by His grace. He chose me. He chose you.

Heaven is going to be full of surprises. As we look around, the first surprise will be all the people who we thought would never make it. The next surprise will be those sitting in the front row in the places of honor. We will say, "Who are these people? I never saw them before." "Some of them went to Calvary Chapel," someone will say, "but where is Chuck?" And somewhere way out in the back of the crowd, in the peanut gallery, I will yell, "Here I am! Thank God, through His grace, I made it."

All Are Equal in the Kingdom

Prior to meeting Jesus face to face on the road to Damascus, the apostle Paul spent the majority of his life as a Pharisee. The Pharisees, you remember, were members of the strict, legalistic Jewish sect that so strongly opposed Jesus. You get a flavor for who they were by considering their prayers, a few of which have been preserved for us. Every morning the rabbis prayed, I thank you, Father, that I was not born a Gentile, a slave, or a woman." No doubt this was a part of Paul's devotional life for many years.

How interesting it is, then, that in Galatians 3:28 the apostle turns all three components of this traditional prayer on their heads. He writes, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."

Jesus has made equal access to God available to all people. God receives us as His dearly loved children - this is the beauty of the gospel.

Jesus is the great equalizer. His grace refuses to elevate one person over another. We all are one because in Christ, God accepts one sinner just as readily as He accepts another. God places tremendous value on each individual.

This gospel has made a tremendous impact wherever in the world it has gone. Consider women's rights. Prior to the arrival of Christianity in New Guinea, women were considered unworthy to worship God. A woman had only to touch a place of worship to be put to death. Such second-class citizenship created a climate of fear and shame and led to an extremely high suicide rate among women. They had very little to live for and oppression was heavy. Imagine the impact on this culture when the gospel of grace appeared on the scene. Suddenly men and women discovered that in Christ there is no distinction between male and female.

Jesus has made equal access to God available to all people regardless of their demographic group. God does not receive us as justified strangers or distant acquaintances, but as His dearly loved children. John tells us that "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12). This is the beauty of the gospel.

No matter what we have been like or what wrong we have done, if we will place our faith in Christ, we will be pardoned for all our sins. Even beyond this almost incomprehensible blessing, God also receives us as His sons. That is what Paul meant when he wrote, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26). The word "children" in this passage literally means "placed as a son."

God doesn't have any important people. The objects of His grace are not only the strong, or the beautiful, or the intelligent. He calls us ordinary folk to His side and wraps His strong arms around us in a gentle embrace of love. This is the gospel of grace.

Chosen by Grace

Paul saw his whole life as the result of God's gracious choice. As he put it, "It pleased God... to reveal his Son in me" (Galatians 1:15,16). That is what God wants to do in every one of our lives. That is what God wants to do in you now. God desires to reveal His Son to the world through you.

In fact, God has been working in your life since the moment you were conceived to make you the perfect instrument to reveal His Son. That is why Paul wrote, "God... separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace" (Galatians 1:15). It is remarkable to see how God prepared Paul for his ministry long before he had one.

God knew He was going to need a special person to bring the gospel of grace to the Gentiles. This man would have to break with the ingrained tradition of the Jews, who tended to be a clannish people. They would not mix with Gentiles, even refusing to eat with them or enter their houses. In fact, when a Pharisee walked down the street, he would hold his robes very tightly around him for fear that his garment might touch a Gentile. Should a Pharisee accidentally touch a non-Jew, he would go home, take a bath, wash his robes, and stay away from the temple that day. He considered himself unclean. Yet the man God needed to proclaim the good news would have to go out and live with the Gentiles and become one with them.

How interesting it is that God chose for this special task the Jew who was most zealous for the traditions of his fathers!

As Paul looked back, he could see how God's hand had been on his life from the very beginning. Since Greek culture had saturated the world, the man God chose had to be steeped in its customs and philosophy. Because he was going to be traveling extensively throughout the Roman empire and facing all kinds of perils, he needed to have Roman citizenship.

Therefore God arranged that Saul should be born a Roman citizen. How his citizenship was attained is not known, but it would definitely serve as a big advantage to Paul, saving him from some difficult and even life-threatening circumstances (see Acts 22 and 25).

Tarsus also enjoyed a strong Greek culture. Paul had more than just a small exposure to Hellenistic custom and thought; he was part of it. This made it possible for him to deal effectively with the Gentiles and to know the nuances of Greek thought. His background allowed him to communicate the truths of Jesus Christ to the Greeks.

At the same time, God needed a person who was thoroughly Jewish. When Paul was about 12 years old, his parents sent him to Jerusalem to study at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the great Jewish scholars of the day. There Paul became absorbed in Hebrew culture and tradition, mastering the Talmud and the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul grew extremely zealous for the law and sought to become righteous by keeping it to the best of his ability. He excelled among his contemporaries. To the Philippians he wrote, "If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more" (Philippians 3:4). Peter and the other disciples, with their backgrounds as fishermen or tax collectors, weren't prepared to understand the law as thoroughly as did Paul.

When the day finally came for God to reveal His grace to Paul on the Damascus Road, the apostle could instantly fit together the Scriptures of the Old Testament with the recent appearance of Jesus Christ. He began to look at the Messiah from a new point of view. Paul was the perfect choice to preach the gospel of grace, for if anyone had sought to be righteous by the law, it was Paul. Here was a man who could say, "Concerning... the righteousness which is in the law, [I was] blameless" (Philippians 3:6). He knew the futility of trying to be righteous by the law, so when he came to the glorious knowledge of Jesus Christ, he gladly embraced the new righteousness imputed to him through his faith in Jesus Christ.

Nothing Has Changed

Paul's story is dramatic, but don't imagine for a moment that this kind of divine preparation is unique to him or other New Testament saints. I can examine my own life, for example, and see that God separated me from my mother's womb for the work He had for me to do.

I look back and see momentous events that didn't seem so momentous at the time. Now I realize these incidents were the crossroads in my life that helped to shape and determine my destiny. Looking back, I can see the hand of God in each of these situations, although at those times I didn't realize God's hand was anywhere nearby. I thought God had deserted me. But now I see how God was working in every difficult circumstance of my life to prepare me for the work He had ordained for me. It is an exciting thing to recall some of the decisions I made at critical moments and realize that God's hand was leading me all along.

We sing, "All the way my Savior leads me." In hindsight, I can testify that God's hand was upon my life from the beginning. Sometimes God supernaturally intervened to protect me. He had a special work for me to do and He was fitting me for that work.

A few weeks before I was born my cousin died of spinal meningitis. My sister also was infected with this terrible disease. One day she went into convulsions so severe that my family thought she was dead. My mother rushed out of our apartment and up the street to the parsonage of a local church, where she laid my sister's lifeless body on the carpet. The pastor and my mother began to pray that God would bring my sister back to life. Her eyes had rolled back, her jaw had set, and there was no apparent pulse.

When my dad returned home from the pool hall a while later, a nurse was waiting for him. "You had better go find your wife," she said. "Your daughter is dying. She may even be dead by now." My father raced up the street to the parsonage to beat up the minister and take my sister to the hospital. He thought it was ridiculous to pray when you needed a doctor. But when he entered the home and saw my sister's condition, he realized it was too late. He fell on his knees, broken before God.

The minister told my mother, "Now, get your eyes off of your little girl. Just get your eyes upon Jesus and begin to look to the Lord." My mother - pregnant with me - lifted her face to God and said, "Lord, if You will restore to me my daughter, I will commit my life to You. I will serve You in whatever capacity You want." My sister was healed instantly. She began to cry, sat up, looked around, and wanted to go home. They took her home, completely healed.

A few weeks later I was born and the doctor announced, "You have a baby boy." My dad floated down the hall of the hospital shouting, "Praise the Lord, it's a boy!" At that time my mother prayed, "Thank You, Lord, for giving my daughter back to me. And the vow that I made to serve You, I will fulfill through my son."

From my earliest days, my mother planted the Word of God in my heart. As I was swinging out in the yard, she would help me memorize Scripture verses. When I was four years old she taught me how to read using the Bible. I spelled out the words I couldn't pronounce. She would later recount times when I didn't know all the letters and would do my best to describe them. She laughed as she remembered how I would call a "v" a "tent upside down." With patience and love, she nurtured and taught me the fear of God.

By the time I was seven years old I could name all of the books of the Bible and spell them. At bedtime, I never heard fairy tales, only Bible stories. Rather than Goldilocks and the three bears, I grew up with David and Moses. My mother taught me that when God was with you, you didn't have to fear anything or anybody. No giant could stand against you when God is with you.

I can't remember a time when I didn't know and love God. I have no kind of conversion testimony. There was a time when I made my public profession of faith and was baptized, but it seems that from my mother's womb I was separated unto God and unto the Word of God.

As I grew older, I decided on a career as a neurosurgeon and so began taking courses that would prepare me for that profession. Whenever I described my ambitions, my mother would just smile and encourage me. She never told me of the commitment she made for my life at the time of my birth.

During my teen years God changed my life at a summer camp where I made a commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ. God impressed upon my heart that men had needs far greater than the physical. Ministering to physical needs provides temporary help, but ministering to spiritual needs helps people eternally. God called me to minister His healing to the spirit of man.

I thought my mom would be greatly disappointed when she learned her son was not going to be a doctor. I expected slumped shoulders and long faces when I announced to my family the change of direction for my life. But when I told my mother that I felt God calling me to the ministry and to Bible college, she just smiled and said, "That's fine, son." It amazed me that she didn't cry or get upset.

I went to Bible college, received my training, married Kay, and together we began our ministry. A short while before my mother died, she told me the story of my sister's apparent death and her promise to God which she vowed to keep through me. She was one of the most beautiful, godly persons I have ever known, a deeply spiritual woman and a tremendous example. I can now look back and see that even from my mother's womb I was separated unto God for the ministry He had in mind for me.

Did you know the same is true of you? If through faith you have placed your eternal destiny in the loving hands of Jesus Christ, you can be sure that God is at work shaping the events and circumstances of your life into a beautiful mosaic that will reveal His Son to the men and women around you. His hand is on you, as it has been since before you were born.

Called by Grace

It is so important to remember that God's hand is on us by grace. All of us were called by grace. As Paul said, "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace" (Galatians 1:15, emphasis added). I don't deserve to be called to serve God. I don't deserve to be saved. I don't deserve to be in heaven. I deserve the hottest spot in hell.

Yet that is not what God has given me or the rest of us. God has graciously planned our lives and given each of us a special work to do. Some people are able to fulfill the plan of God for their life in just an hour's time; others of us are slow and plodding and it will take us a lifetime to fulfill God's ultimate purpose for us.

God has a special work for each of us to do and it is necessary that all of us be prepared for that work.

Remember Mordecai's question to Esther: "How do you know but that God brought you to the kingdom for such an hour as this?" (see Esther 4:14). The major purpose of God for Esther's existence was fulfilled in just a few days. God raised her up, brought her into the Persian court, and made her the wife of King Ahasuerus in order that He, through her intercession, might spare the Jews.

God has a special work for each of us to do and it is necessary that all of us be prepared for that work. Many of us will spend the majority of our lives in preparation before our day will come. We will fulfill the purpose of God for our life and then we will pass on. God's purposes for us will have been accomplished.

Wherever we find ourselves, God has a reason for placing us there. He has His hand upon our lives and upon each circumstance in our lives. We may be going through difficult trials, but hardships are necessary. God wants to develop in us the characteristics that will enable us to fulfill His plan for us.

God is working in each of us. We are His workmanship, His poiema or masterpiece (see Ephesians 2:10). God will work in each of us according to His grace so that we might accomplish the work He has ordained for us in His kingdom and for His glory.

Beware the Snare

Satan knows that God's hand is on us and he will try to use our weaknesses and inabilities to discourage us. The devil often puts unreasonable demands upon us, making us think God is behind them and prompting us to strive and struggle to achieve a level of perfection beyond our capacity.

As Satan harasses and burdens us, many times we fall into despair. We become extremely discouraged and we want to quit. But whenever we try to fulfill a standard that God has not set for us, our hearts grow heavy. And the results can be tragic.

A young boy with a physical handicap had been attending our church. After every service he made an effort to come up and talk to me. He had great difficulty speaking, yet I always admired his ability to express himself. I also admired his intelligence; his questions were good and insightful.

He was also extremely troubled, however, and one day he tried to throw himself in front of a car on a busy road in front of the church. He was brought into the office and we prayed with him and called the authorities. We felt for his own safety he needed to be examined by doctors. He was taken to a hospital, where he was examined and released.

It was clear he was suffering under a load of condemnation. "Chuck," he cried, "I just can't quit smoking."' I tried to tell him not to worry about it - that his smoking did not make him a second-class Christian. The following Sunday he was back at church and told me God had dealt with him. He said he had come to a place of real commitment, yet I could tell he was troubled. Clearly, Satan was accusing him about a weakness in his flesh and tormenting him about his physical handicap.

One day this burden of discouragement and condemnation cost this young man his life. He jumped to his death off a balcony at a local high-rise hotel all because he allowed the enemy to use his weaknesses to discourage him.

If only that young man had learned that we can't be more than the person God enables us to be! None of us ever achieves any value apart from the work of God's Holy Spirit in our lives. Thus, we are not to fret. We are not to condemn ourselves. We are not to berate ourselves constantly for our failures. We are only to acknowledge and recognize our weakness, to humbly say, "Lord, I know that I am weak. I need Your help. I turn this over to You and I ask You, Lord, to do for me what I can't do for myself." And He will.

All Are Welcome Here

The body of Christ is a beautiful thing. Every part of the body is vital and important. What a helpless and weird body it would be if it were all a mouth! God has made me a mouth in the body, but surely the whole body isn't a mouth. Many parts of the body are much more important than the mouth. How beautiful it is to see the body of Christ functioning as intended, with people from every walk of life and demographic group and background working together to serve God in unity!

God wants to reveal His Son in you, wherever you came from and wherever you are and in whatever you are doing. Let Jesus Christ shine forth through your life, your attitudes, your reactions, and your responses.

We used to sing a chorus in church, "Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me, all His wonderful passion and purity. Oh, Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine, till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me." This is more than just a beautiful chorus and a marvelous prayer. It should be the desire of each of our hearts: "Oh Lord, let Your beauty be seen in me." As David prayed, "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Psalm 17:15).

By the Spirit, all of us - the lovely and the plain, the strong and the weak, the brilliant and the slow - are being changed into the likeness of Jesus. Together we are the objects of His grace. And together we shall all be satisfied on that glorious day when we awake in His likeness.

How could it be otherwise?