Can God Use A Divorced Person?

I am writing this post my friends to encourage you that no matter what you have gone through in life, God still wants to use you in mighty and powerful ways. No, you may not be the next Billy Graham or Mother Teresa, but then again you may!, but you are still a valid vessel that can be used by God to good things!

Romans 11:29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.

You may say, oh but you don't know what I have done. The mistakes I have made, the sins I have committed. Honestly, I don't want to know. I do know this. God throws them as far as the east is from the west, into the sea of forgetfulness.

If God uses the foolish things of this world then He will use you!

You might say, but I am divorced, or I have fallen away from Jesus, or I hate too many people, or I can't speak good, ect. All of these things have been faced by others and God still used them. I always tell people, if God used Balaam's donkey, then He can use me! God uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. That means us people! We truly are the foolish things.

God chose you knowing all along the failures you would have.

He could have chosen the rich, mighty, or wise, but instead he chose to find pearls of great price in the stickiest of clay. You have not made too many mistakes, committed too many sins, or been too downright onery for God to use! Think of Paul, He condoned the murder of Christians, Peter, He denied Christ, David committed murder and adultery, ect. Just think about this. If, as we all believe, that God is all knowing then He knows the past, present and future, then when He called and gifted you all those years ago, did He not know what you would go through, fail at, and screw up? If knowing that, why would He call and gift you? Because He knows that He is bigger than your falling shorts! Pun intended! LOL As Paul came to understand. His grace is sufficient for you.

But what about the scriptures in Timothy and Titus about being the Husband of one wife?

We have all heard the interpretations taken from 1 Tim. 5:2 and Titus 1:6, That if a man is divorced it disqualifies him for ministry. But is that what these passages really say? They both say that a man is to be the husband of one wife. Now those that would say that this prohibits a man from ministry after divorce, assume that this means one wife for a lifetime. Their same interpretation would prohibit a widower from serving as well. Along with that, if they were to use the same standard for all the qualifications listed in these passages, then any man who has or had unruly kids in their lifetime would be disqualified, any man who ever followed his own will would be disqualified, who is or who had been greedy, inhospitable, had or has an anger problem, who had ever been drunk, is or ever had been drunk, would not be qualified either. Well there goes the entire human race!

Secondly, this interpretation flies in the face of other major doctrines of the Bible.

1. Justification (just as if had never happened) is by faith, not works lest any man should boast. If we are justified by faith, which means just as if it never happened, then why is what never happened being taken into consideration?
2. The cleansing power of Jesus. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness. So why would Paul be calling what God had called clean, unclean?
3. Finally, God throws our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. So once again, why would God be mandating against something that He Himself has forgotten?

So what is the proper interpretation?

Paul had already made it clear in 1 Cor. 7:32 that he felt it was better to stay unmarried and be able to focus only on the things of the Lord, than to get married. So it only makes sense that Paul, who was laying out practical considerations for those that would lead a church, to not want a man to have more than one wife. Polygamy was still prevalent in the day of Paul, and a man who had to care for more than one wife, would not have time to properly care for the church of God.

So concerning divorce and ministry. If a sinner can receive forgiveness for a sin, and if a Christian can receive forgiveness for a sin, and then subsequently enter into ministry, then so can a divorcee'. There are no big sins or little sins. If a murderer, drunkard, blackmailer, or thief can get forgiveness and turn from that sin, and enter into ministry, so can someone who has been divorced. And dare I say it? Even if they made the same mistake more than once! Look at Aimee Semple McPherson. Married 3 times, divorced twice, widowed once. She was mightily used by God in ministry. There are thousands of Foursquare Churches across the world and over 1 million members who are winning people to Jesus today because of her. And she is not the only one. There are thousands across this nation that refuse to bow to the judgmentalism of self righteous hypocrites. If God can use a sinner saved by grace, then He can use anyone, including you, and including, dare I say it?, the same hypocrites after they repent.

Now that is something to think about!

Blessings!

Pastor Duke

Related Articles

• Biblical Reasons for Divorce
• Can A Christian Have Life After Divorce

If you are going through divorce or have gone through divorce then I recommend DivorceCare to help you with the healing and restoration process.

This post is a combination of a couple of posts I have done on my own website called Taber's Truths