No. And I'm living proof.
A few months after I gave my life to Jesus in college, I went to Mizzou to hang out with my brother Jason. He was having people over for a BBQ, and when he told one of his friends I'd be there, the guy said, "Justin? Your brother? That guy's a complete jerk. He's one of the meanest people I know. I'm not sure I'm coming." Honestly? Fair. I was mean, vulgar and hated being sober. If you'd made a list of people least likely to become a pastor, I'd have been near the top. Looking back, I battled insecurity, fear and depression for most of my childhood, and I used drugs to become the confident person I wished I was. It took years of the Holy Spirit working in my heart to heal what was broken.
You might be thinking, "Okay, but you don't know what I've done." You're right. But look at who God has used:
Noah got drunk. Abraham was too old. Jacob was a liar. Moses was a murderer who hated public speaking. Rahab was a prostitute. Gideon was afraid. Samson was a womanizer. David was an adulterer and a murderer. Elijah wanted to die. Jonah ran from God. Peter denied Jesus. Paul hunted down Christians. And Lazarus? He was dead.
"God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong… so that no human being might boast in the presence of God" (1 Corinthians 1:27, 29 ESV). Paul wrote a list of people who won't inherit the kingdom, and then he said, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV).
There's a guy in the Bible named Simon the leper (Matthew 26:6). In Jesus' day, leprosy was a life sentence. Lepers had to tear their clothes, cover their faces and shout "Unclean! Unclean!" whenever anyone came near (Leviticus 13:45). They lived outside the city, cut off from family, work and worship. They had to announce their own shame every day.
But when we meet Simon, Jesus is reclining at a dinner table in his house. Which means Simon had been healed. And yet people still called him "Simon the leper." Why? Because his old name wasn't a label of shame anymore. It was a testimony of what Jesus did. He went from "unclean, stay back" to "come in, sit at my table." And his house became the place where a woman poured out extravagant worship on Jesus days before the cross.
That's what God does with your past. What you go through becomes the tools you need to fulfill your calling. God doesn't waste it. He redeems it.
So here's how you start:
Stop hiding what's hurting. A hidden wound only festers. It never heals.
Ask for healing. Jesus asked a man who'd been sick for 38 years, "Do you want to be healed?" (John 5:6 ESV). Sometimes our pain becomes our identity, and letting it go is scary.
Tell someone you trust. "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16 ESV).
Forgive. Very often, healing starts with forgiving the person who hurt you.
You're not too far gone. You're exactly the kind of person God loves to use.
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:26–29; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11; Matthew 26:6–13; Leviticus 13:45–46; John 5:2–9; James 5:16; Philippians 1:6