Are you being called?

God Can Use Anybody: The Call of Peter and Paul

One of the most remarkable truths in Scripture is that a perfect, holy, all-powerful God chooses to do His work through imperfect, ordinary people. If we’re honest, it doesn’t make much sense. Why would a God who can do all things ever need help doing anything—and why would He come looking for help from us, the most inconsistent part of His creation?

Yet this is the mystery and beauty of calling. God delights in using people who seem unlikely, unqualified, or even unwilling by the world’s standards.

What does it mean to be called?

When we talk about being “called,” many of us instantly think of pastors or missionaries. But Scripture paints a much broader picture. Calling isn’t limited to church staff; it’s a spiritual reality for every child of God. According to 1 Peter 2:9, God calls us out of darkness and into His wonderful light. That shift—from blindness to clarity—doesn’t just change what we believe. It changes what we see. It awakens new burdens, fresh priorities, and a sense of responsibility for things that never mattered to us before.

Calling, then, is simply the obedience we give in response to the clarity God gives.

But once that clarity comes, another question quickly follows: Why me? Why would God open my eyes? Why would He trust me—flawed, inconsistent, insecure me—with anything that matters?

The stories of Peter and Paul help answer that question.

These two giants of the early church could not have been more different.

Peter was a rough, uneducated fisherman—blue collar, impulsive, and imperfect.

Paul was an elite scholar, a Roman citizen, a Pharisee among Pharisees, and a passionate persecutor of Christians.

One lived a quiet life; the other a public and aggressive one. One was married; one was single. One was called relationally and practically—“follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”—while the other was called dramatically, knocked off his feet by the risen Christ.

Different backgrounds. Different personalities. Different callings.

Yet God used them both powerfully.

Why?

• Because God is never limited by our limitations.
• He has always done more with less.
• He has always turned “nobodies” into “somebodies.”
• He has always used the unlikely to accomplish the unbelievable.

But here’s the part we often miss:

When God calls you, He isn’t reluctantly choosing you in spite of your flaws. He is intentionally choosing you because you are His preference for that assignment.

Not because you’re the most impressive.

Not because you’re the most talented.

But because, out of everyone in the world, your life has the greatest potential to give Him glory through that specific calling.

Peter was sent to the esteemed Jews—something that made little sense on paper. Paul was sent to the Gentiles—even stranger. Yet Scripture says the same God worked through both (Galatians 2:8). And that same God wants to work through you.

If He can use Peter, and He can use Paul, then He can certainly use you.

So the real question isn’t “Why me?”

It’s “Will I trust Him enough to answer His call?”

Because God can use anybody—and that includes you.