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I’m studying the 12 Apostles right now and what’s really amazing to me is how they are described in the Bible.  They weren’t the academic elite.  There were no great theologians or orators.  They lacked faith, betrayed and rebuked their Lord, doubted, denied and eventually forsook Him and fled. 

The wordle cloud to the left represents words and ideas used by Jesus to describe The Twelve in various passages: Matt 6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 15:16-17, 16:8-9, 20:20-28, Mark 4:40, Mark 9:33-37, Mark 16:14, Luke 9:46, 24:25.

Knowing all of this in advance, Jesus still chose them and, through them, God set in motion his plan to redeem mankind to himself.  Jesus was the sacrifice but these extraordinarily ordinary and flawed men were used to bring His message to the world.  As John MacArthur, author of Twelve Ordinary Men, writes (and I paraphrase), their influence came solely from the power of the message they preached. 

Here’s to being ordinary and still being useful.