Is being used of the Lord what we should be seeking?
IT’S WORTH CONSIDERING
It seems natural and right for us to want to be of use to the Lord. When we sense God is redirecting us,
sooner or later, we find ourselves asking God to place us where we can be of use to Him. We are people of action and we think we must always be doing something. We have been taught that being a servant is a good thing and to serve, we must be doing something.
This is true, but I’ve come to realize that it’s not the most important thing to God, and when being of use to the Lord is our primary focus, we fail to complete our real mission. More than anything else, we have been placed here (wherever that may be) to bring glory to God. He should be the focus, not us or our usefulness. If our focus is misdirected, He can’t use us, no matter how fervently we plead with Him. Without realizing it, we are assuming that we have met all the requirements for service, and being fully equipped, we are ready to prove our dedication through service.
AS I SEE IT
What we fail to understand is that it’s not about us and our service. It’s about God and His glory. Jesus never sought out situations where He could be of the most use. He took every opportunity to bring glory to the Father, and the same should be true for us. After all that’s why we were created.
…Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory…(Isaiah 43:7)
God does value our usefulness, but only to the degree that it brings glory to Him. He wants us to understand that more often than not, the things that bring Him the most glory have nothing to do with our usefulness. It’s all about transformation, and our greatest personal transformations come during our times of least usefulness-when we have been brought to the point where we realize that we have absolutely nothing to offer-when we have been stripped of all our pride and self-sufficiency.
Consider Joseph, whom God used mightily. Before He could use him, He placed him in prison, hardly a
place of great usefulness. Yet when Joseph had been emptied of himself, God used him mightily, and his usefulness began while he was still in prison. Throughout the Bible we see a similar pattern. God is most glorified when He performs something that only He could have done. To be of use to God, we must first be made into a person He can use. Then He will place us where we can bring Him the most glory. Sometimes that glory is seen in the way He uses us, but sometimes it is revealed as He transforms us in a place of apparent and utter uselessness. We must allow Him to choose the place and the means that bring Him the greatest glory.
GOD DISPLAYS HIS GLORY
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