Latest / Intentional Guy / Cracked but not Cursed
Transcript
- Michael Chestnut: Recently I heard an old story about a man who carried water with two pots that were hanging from his shoulders. One pot was perfect. The other had a crack in it. But every day they walked the same dusty road. The perfect pot arrived full every time. But the crack pot arrived half empty, dripping water the whole way. And one day the cracked pot said. I'm sorry that I'm not like the other ones. I lose what you put inside of me. The man smiled and he said, But look at your side of the road. And there were flowers blooming all along his side. The man said, I planted seeds along the path, and you've been watering them for years. Some of you think the cracks in your life are Are your curse? The divorce, the anxiety, the past you wish you could erase, the weakness you keep praying God would just remove. But what if God is using it? What if the place you leak is the place He planted? Now stay with me today, because this episode might be the one that changes how you see yourself. Welcome to the Intentional Guide Podcast, where we help men live on purpose, lead with conviction, and walk in the calling God put on their lives. I'm your host, Michael Chestnut, and today, men, we want to talk about something most of us have tried to hide. Our cracks. Let's get into it. Point one God has never once required. Your perfection. Let me just say it flat out. You've been lied to. Somewhere along the way, most of us men picked up this idea that God can only use us when we get it together, when we stop struggling, when we clean up the sin, silence the doubt, and finally become the version of ourself we think he's waiting on. But that's not the God of the Bible. That's not even close. Look at the Apostle Paul. This is a man who wrote a significant portion of the New Testament, and he had a crack. He called it a thorn in the flesh. We don't even know exactly what it was. Some scholars think it was a physical illness, while others think it was a persistent temptation. We do know He literally begged God three times to remove it. And God said, No. Not because he didn't love Paul. Not because Paul wasn't good enough. But because God had a purpose for the pain. Second Corinthians 12:9. My grace is significant for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Not in your polished Sunday morning version of yourself, not when you got it all figured out in your weakness, in your crack. Paul responds, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest upon me. That's an intentional man right there. He didn't pretend, he didn't perform, he surrendered the crack. And let God work through it. Men, you don't have to be flawless for God to use you. You just have to be available. Point two, your wound is your ministry. There's a pattern I've noticed, and the more men I talk to, the more I'm convinced of it. The thing God uses most in your life is almost always the thing you're most ashamed of. Think about that. The recovering addict who now leads the most powerful recovery ministry in a city, the divorced man who understands broken homes in a way that makes him the best marriage mentor his church has ever seen. The man who battles depression and silence for years who now give other men permission to finally talk. David is one of my favorite examples of this. Here's a man God called a man after his own heart, and David committed adultery, covered it up with murder, and watched his family fall apart because of his sin. He had cracks everywhere. But look at Psalms 51, the prayer David wrote after his greatest failure. Psalms 51, 12 through 13. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. And grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will return back to you. David didn't say, Once you fix me, I'll hide what happened. He said, Once you restore me, I'll teach others because of what happened. His wound became his message. Men, the same is true of you. That battle you've been through. Someone is waiting on the other side of it, watching to see if you'll survive so they can believe they can survive too. Your story isn't just your story. It's someone else's roadmap. Romans 828, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. Not some things, all things, including the worst chapter. Of your story. Point three. Faithfulness is the assignment, not flawlessness. Here's where it gets, practical men. Most of us are sitting on the sidelines of our own calling because we're waiting to feel ready. We're waiting to be healed enough, fixed enough, strong enough. And meanwhile, the road you're walking on every single day, it's dry. And God has seeds planted right there, waiting for what leaks out of you. Think about Gideon. God came to Gideon while he was hiding in a wine press, threshing wheat in secret, because he was terrified of the enemy. And the angel of the Lord shows up and says, And I love this. The Lord is with you, mighty warrior. Gideon's response in Judges 6 15. Pardon me, my Lord, but how can I say Israel, my clan is the weakest, and I am the least in my family. Sound familiar? I'm the wrong guy. I've got too many cracks. Pick somebody else. But God didn't come looking for the strongest pot. He came looking for a man who would walk the road. And Gideon walked the road. Cracked, afraid, doubting, and God delivered Israel through Him. Here's what faithfulness looks like for you right now. Keep showing up for your kids, even when you feel like you're failing as a dad. Keep leading your household even when you don't feel qualified. Keep going to that men's group. Even when you think everybody else has it more together than you. Keep walking your road, even when you're leaking. Galatians 6 9. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. You don't harvest what you perfected. You harvest what you planted. Keep planting, keep walking, keep showing up crack. Men I want you to hear this loud and clear before you walk away today. God isn't asking you to be the perfect pot. He never has. The perfect pot arrived full, and nobody noticed. No flowers grew on his side of the road. No life sprang up in his wake. He just carried what he was given and held it tight. But the cracked pot, the one who was ashamed, the one who apologized for being broken, he watered the garden without even knowing it. That's you. That's what your life looks like from heaven's perspective. Even from your view, all you see is what spills out. Paul said it, David proved it. Gideon lived it. God's power is made perfect in weakness. So here's your challenge this week. Just one thing. Stop apologizing for your crack. Look back at your side of the road. What has gone gr what has God grown through the broken places in your life? Who did you water? That you don't even know about yet. What seeds are in the ground right now because of where you've been? Don't bury your story. Don't hide your struggle. Don't wait until you're healed to be useful. Walk your road. Carry what you can. Let God handle what spills. Because the very place you're leaking, that's the place God has been landscaping. You're not cursed, you're cracked. And in the hands of a purposeful God, that makes you dangerous. Go be intentional men. I'll see you next time.