Since we got the heave-ho from HGTV in 2014, we’ve done our fair share of media interviews – as in more than. When you get that much airtime, people tend to reduce you to a sort of “brand.” Somehow, the two of us have gotten a bit of a reputation as the twin brothers – or “dynamic duo” as have some have said – who are paragons of virtue. This makes us laugh out loud because nothing could be further from the truth, and honestly, “paragon” is a big word for us. (We had to look it up.)
First of all, if there is anything worthy of praise in our lives, it is only the work of Jesus Christ. Secondly, we are absolutely capable of sin – we are so fallible it’s not funny. The good news is: Being super fallible puts us in good company. Over and over again, we’ve seen how God uses broken vessels, not perfect ones.
Just take a look at how God reveals the faults and sinful deeds of the men and women in Scripture. He didn’t use perfect people; he used broken people – those marred by sin but forgiven by God. Abraham was a liar. Jacob was a deceiver. Aaron was an idolater. Rahab was a prostitute. David was an adulterer. Paul was a murderer. The list goes on. The Bible hides nothing about the men and women God used to bring heaven to earth in real ways. And the key to His use of them was not their perfectness but their brokenness.
We love how Warren Weirsbe, one of our favorite Bible commentators, put it: “Every great personality mentioned in the Bible sinned at one time or another. Abraham lied about his wife (Gen. 12:10-20). Moses lost his temper and disobeyed God (Num. 20:7-13). Peter denied the Lord three times (Matt. 26:69-75). But sin was not the settled practice of these men. It was an incident in their lives, totally contrary to their normal habits. And when they sinned, they admitted it and asked God to forgive them.”
This is what the faithful believers before us did. They were broken over their sin and submitted their selfish, stubborn ways to God. If we didn’t get to see their raw, real-life incidents of sin, we’d all probably throw up our hands in despair and wonder how, or if, God could ever use us today. But God didn’t do that to us; instead, He brought us into the darkest, most intimate secrets of their lives and showed how broken people can be restored to Him and then used for Him in powerful ways.
David and Jason Benham join James and Betty this Thursday on LIFE TODAY. This is an excerpt from Bold and Broken by David and Jason Benham. Copyright ©2019 by David and Jason Benham. Published by Salem Books, an imprint of Regnery Publishing. Used by permission.
