You Don’t Need a Perfect Match to Light a Fire!

I was in the kitchen with my youngest daughter who was still squeamish about lighting the gas stove. She already knew how to do it as I had demonstrated to her several times how to light the match and turn the nob to set the flame going and she had done it a number of times.  I had told her that she was a big girl and I wasn’t going to light the stove for her. After a number of false starts, she took a matchstick for the umpteenth time and returned it to the box saying it didn’t look good, so she was looking for a perfect one.

I realized she was using the excuse of searching for a perfect match as a ‘delay tactic’ so I said to her; “you don’t need a perfect match to light a fire”.

But as soon as the words dropped from my lips, I felt like I had been struck across the face! Wham! Those words hit home so closely and very uncomfortably! It was such an aha moment for me!

How many times have I not procrastinated about something I had to do because I was waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect opportunity, the perfect circumstances, the perfect place, etc.? Here I was trying to preach to my little girl, but seriously I had to look at myself and see how many times I’ve let things slip by because I was looking for the “perfect one”. And really that excuse was just a cover up for the real issue of being afraid to take a step or over analyzing a situation.

In that moment, I felt God minister to me; I could clearly see that my excuses, my ‘looking for the perfect match’ have held me back from moving forward in certain areas of my life. I realized I needed to take a risk on the imperfect a bit more, actually much more!

David didn’t wait to have an opponent that was his size before stepping onto the battle ground, Esther did not wait to be summoned by King Xerxes, but risked her life to seek his audience, Abigail did not wait to hear that David’s temper had subsided against Nabal before going out to meet him, the woman with the issue of blood did not wait for the crowd to clear before seeking Jesus for her healing, neither did the woman at the well wait for approval before beginning to share about the Messiah.

I could go on and on but point made. – hopefully! Their circumstances were less than ideal but they stepped out in faith, nonetheless. And that’s what trusting God is about isn’t it? Not seeing the whole staircase but trusting Him to guide you all the way up!

Think about it, when Joshua and the children of Israel had to cross the Jordan, it was at its peak, yet it was during that seemingly ‘impossible to cross’ season that the Lord commanded them to move. God does not move according to our comfort level but draws us to elevate our faith in Him in the face of challenges.

The Bible is rife with stories of people God used, none of them superstars or perfect in their own right; on the contrary, most of them had a ‘but’ to their lives. But we serve a God who takes the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak to shame the strong!

Abraham and Sarah, a childless couple, advanced in years, are called out to go start a blessed nation! Really God?

Joseph, an ex-convict (convicted of rape) becomes Prime Minister in Egypt!

Gideon, a guy threshing wheat in a wine press is called to deliver his people from oppression! What a candidate!

Paul, a murderer is converted and assigned to carry the message of the cross alongside those he once persecuted. What a most unlikely ambassador!

Peter flat out denied Jesus, not once, but three times! Yet Jesus still chose to use him!

All of these were unlikely candidates and yet their courage and willingness to follow God’s leading resulted in outstanding results!

So guess who left the kitchen with the biggest learning that day? Yes, my little girl conquered the stove lighting; (I am not sure it was a perfect match, but it did do the job!) but the greater lesson was mine to take away from the kitchen that day:

You don’t need a perfect match to light a fire! 🔥

“Dear Lord, grant me grace and courage to step out in faith every day. May I be quick to follow when you summon me towards your will! Help me to trust your leading, even through the not so perfect, not so ideal and not so logical timings and situations! And Lord, one more thing; imperfect as I am, use me for your glory!”

Those words are engraved on my heart now; I have printed it and posted it on my wall as a reminder to myself. “Quit the delay tactics; time to strike the match and get that fire going”!

Anyone with me? 😊

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”

1 Corinthians 1:26-29