He doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called
Did you know that you were perfectly made to be used by God? That He, who is the Creator of the universe, almighty and all through good, decided to create you just the way you are and give you a future full of hope? You may think that your mistakes and weaknesses are in the way of doing God's will, but the thing is that you're ready at this exact moment. God will literally take your ups and downs to show His love, through you, to others.
Initially, I felt pretty disqualified to speak about this matter. Throughout the majority of my time in school I thought that I had to be older to speak about my faith. I never understood that I don't need to wait with my bible reading just because I don't know much from the beginning. In addition, I compared myself with other people's gifts and blamed my unwillingness to serve on the fact that they could do it better. The last few years God has really spoken to me about His truth. Step by step He has made me believe in the saying “He doesn't call the qualified, but qualifies the called”. Since the day my youth leader presented that quote during a sermon it's been in my mind, but I wouldn't say it became a truth in my everyday life until I actually practiced it. Jesus calls us to be His disciples, not because of our deeds but because of what He did for us. In His Kingdom age, education, appearance and other superficial things doesn't matter for Him to be able to use us.
A famous person from the Bible is Moses - the man who got called to lead the people of Israel out of the slavery in Egypt. We often hear about the great things in his calling, but Moses was in fact not a faultless person. He spent his childhood in the Egyptian court, not among his own people. Moses also struggled with his temper and cowardice. This shows that if any of our characteristics would be obstacles for God to work, why wasn't Moses disqualified? Well, because God's criterias aren't the same as we think. Even the day when God calls Moses as a leader, Moses tries to flee from the situation through pointing out his weak traits. Over and over again God reassures Moses with the fact that he doesn't have to do it in himself and that he can rest in that God will put the words in his mouth. Imagine how much patience God had to have with Moses! Still He never gave up on him.
Your calling will be different in different seasons. In school it's important to know that you are a light of Jesus and that your identity is in His hands. God will give you the right resources in His timing and qualify you for the calling, because that's the way He works.
Rebecca Westergård