Monday Prayer: Called Despite Everything

Father, Matthew was a tax collector - despised traitor, collaborator with oppressors, living off exploitation. Yet Jesus called him, ate with him, chose him as apostle. Matthew left everything immediately and followed. That despised tax collector became the evangelist who wrote the first Gospel.

I use my past to disqualify myself. I point to my failures as evidence you can't use me. I treat my brokenness as disqualification rather than qualification for your transforming work. But you specialize in calling unlikely people, using what the world rejects, transforming what seems beyond redemption.

Help me respond like Matthew. When you call, let me rise immediately. When you invite, let me leave what I'm clinging to. When you choose me despite everything, let me believe mercy precedes calling and love enables transformation. I'm not worthy. But you don't call the worthy - you call sinners to repentance. Call me. Transform me. Use me.