Sept 13 | The Ministry of Showing Up Badly: Why God Prefers Your Mess Over Your Excuses
When perfectionism becomes the enemy of obedience, we miss the entire point of grace.
The Stuttering Prophet Who Changed History
Moses had a speech impediment. Let that sink in for a moment. The man God chose to confront Pharaoh—arguably the most powerful speaking platform in the ancient world—couldn't talk right. When Moses pointed this out to God, the divine response wasn't sympathy or a miraculous healing. It was a question that should revolutionize how we think about service: "Who made your mouth?"
This ancient exchange between a reluctant prophet and the Creator of the universe reveals a truth that modern Christianity desperately needs to recover: God prefers our messy obedience to our polished excuses.
The Paralysis of Perfectionism in Modern Faith
Why We're All Sitting on the Sidelines
Most believers today are trapped in a waiting room of their own making. They're sitting on the spiritual sidelines, convinced they need to achieve some undefined level of holiness before they can serve God effectively. The internal monologue sounds something like this:
"When I get my life together..." "When I'm more spiritual..."
"When I know more Bible verses..." "When I stop struggling with this particular sin..." "THEN I'll serve God."
This perfectionist paralysis has created a generation of Christians who are simultaneously desperate to make a difference and convinced they're disqualified from doing so. We've somehow absorbed the lie that God's work requires God-level people, forgetting that He's always chosen to work through cracked vessels.
The Moses Syndrome: When Weakness Feels Like Disqualification
In Exodus chapter 4, we witness one of the most honest conversations in Scripture. God has just given Moses the assignment of a lifetime—liberating an entire nation from slavery. Moses' response in verse 10 is painfully relatable: "Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
Moses isn't simply stating a fact about his communication skills. He's making a theological argument: "God, you picked the wrong guy. My weakness disqualifies me from your work." It's the same argument we make today when we list our inadequacies as reasons why God couldn't possibly use us.
God's Shocking Response to Human Weakness
The Divine Perspective on Imperfection
What happens next in the Exodus narrative should fundamentally reshape our understanding of how God works. He doesn't say, "Oh, my mistake, Moses. Let me fix your speech problem first." He doesn't even offer encouragement about growth or improvement over time.
Instead, God delivers a response that's almost harsh in its directness (Exodus 4:11): "Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?"
This isn't divine insensitivity. It's divine sovereignty. God is essentially saying, "I'm not surprised by your weaknesses. I'm not caught off guard by your struggles. I knew exactly what I was getting when I called you."
Power Made Perfect in Weakness
The Apostle Paul understood this principle intimately. In 2 Corinthians 12, he describes his "thorn in the flesh"—some unnamed struggle that made him feel inadequate for ministry. Three times he begged God to remove it. God's response has echoed through centuries of Christian experience: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Notice the precise wording. God's power isn't made perfect despite weakness or after weakness is overcome. It's made perfect in weakness. The very thing we think disqualifies us becomes the canvas on which God displays His strength.
Biblical Heroes: A Lineup of Beautiful Failures
The Broken People in God's Hall of Fame
Scripture reads like God's highlight reel of using broken people doing mediocre jobs to accomplish miraculous things:
Abraham - The father of faith who lied about his wife being his sister. Twice. Out of fear.
Jacob - A deceiver whose very name meant "heel grabber" or "supplanter." He spent most of his life scheming and manipulating.
David - The man after God's own heart who committed adultery and orchestrated a murder to cover it up.
Peter - The rock upon which Christ would build His church, who denied knowing Jesus three times when it mattered most.
Paul - The greatest missionary in Christian history who called himself the "chief of sinners" and never got over his past as a persecutor of Christians.
The Twelve Disciples: A Case Study in Inadequacy
Perhaps nowhere is God's preference for imperfect servants more evident than in His choice of the twelve disciples. This ragtag group included:
A man who would betray Him (Judas)
A man who would deny Him (Peter)
Multiple men who would abandon Him in His darkest hour (all of them)
A man who literally wouldn't believe He rose from the dead until he could touch the wounds (Thomas)
And Jesus built His church on these guys.
The Theology of Showing Up Badly
Availability Over Ability
Here's a kingdom principle that rarely gets preached: God isn't interested in your capabilities; He's interested in your availability. The entire biblical narrative demonstrates that God consistently chooses willing vessels over qualified candidates.
The Greek word for ministry is "diakonia." It simply means service. Not perfect service. Not impressive service. Not Instagram-worthy service. Just service.
Why God Prefers Messy Obedience
When you serve in your weakness, nobody can mistake where the power comes from. When Moses, the man who can't speak well, becomes God's mouthpiece to Pharaoh, everyone knows that's God at work. When fishermen become world-changers, when tax collectors become gospel writers, when persecutors become apostles—the glory unmistakably belongs to God.
Our modern obsession with competence and qualification actually obscures God's power. When everything looks professional and polished, we might be tempted to credit human effort rather than divine intervention.
Practical Application: Moving from Excuses to Action
The Questions That Change Everything
What would you do for God this week if you knew He wasn't expecting perfection?
What conversation would you have?
What service would you offer?
What step would you take?
What ministry would you begin?
Breaking Free from Verse 13 Living
After God's powerful response about making mouths, Moses still resists. Exodus 4:13 records his final plea: "Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else." How many of us are living in verse 13 right now? Acknowledging God's call but requesting a substitute?
God gets angry with Moses here—but notice what He doesn't do. He doesn't replace Moses. Instead, He provides Aaron to help with the speaking. God accommodates the weakness while still demanding obedience.
Starting Where You Are
The ministry of showing up badly means:
Teaching the Sunday school class even though you're struggling with doubts
Leading worship while battling depression
Sharing your faith while wrestling with your own questions
Serving the homeless while facing financial struggles
Counseling others while working through your own trauma
The Ripple Effect of Imperfect Service
Your Mess as Someone's Message
When you serve despite your struggles, you give others permission to do the same. Your imperfect offering becomes a beacon of hope for those who thought they were too broken to be used by God.
Someone needs to see that God uses people who:
Still struggle with addiction
Haven't figured out their anxiety
Are going through divorce
Battle with depression
Question their faith
Feel inadequate every single day
Creating a Culture of Grace-Based Service
Imagine if churches became places where people felt free to serve badly—where the focus shifted from performance to presence, from capability to availability. What if we celebrated messy obedience as much as we celebrate polished presentations?
The Dare That Changes Everything
Moses never became eloquent. Read through the rest of Exodus—he continues needing Aaron to speak for him. But he showed up. Badly. And God freed a nation through a stuttering shepherd.
It's time to stop praying, "God, use someone else," and start praying, "God, use me anyway." Your imperfections aren't obstacles to God's plan; they're opportunities for His power to be displayed.
The ministry of showing up badly isn't about lowering standards or celebrating mediocrity. It's about recognizing that God's strength is perfected in our weakness, that His grace is sufficient for our inadequacies, and that He deliberately chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.
Show up badly. I dare you. See what God does with it.
Your mess might be exactly what someone needs to see to believe that God can use them too. In the kingdom of God, the qualification for service isn't perfection—it's willingness. The ministry of showing up badly might just be the most honest, powerful ministry of all.
An Invitation to go Deeper….
If today’s message spoke to you, join the FaithLabz 30-Day Prayer Challenge and strengthen your connection with God’s unshakable love. You are never alone—let’s grow together!
