“If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If He wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that.
But the fact is that I do worry about that more often than
not. Perhaps it goes back to the subconscious assumption that I have to “earn
my keep,” never mind the fact that God chose me to be part of His family before
I ever did anything for Him. The truth is that He’s made me a member of His Body
and has given me a specific function whether I feel like I’m useful or not. All
too often I find myself wondering what my purpose is and if I’m being useful or
even usable. So I took a look at what Scripture says about God’s purpose for
us. Here are a few verses (italics added):
- Romans 8:28-29: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
- Ephesians
1:5, 10-12: “He
predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of His will, …as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things
in heaven and things on earth. In
Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who
works all things according to the counsel of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might
be to the praise of His glory.”
- Ephesians 3:10-11: “…so
that through the church the manifold wisdom
of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the
heavenly places. This was according to the
eternal purpose that He has
realized in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- 2 Timothy 1:9-11: “…who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher.”
From these examples we can see
several purposes God has given us as believers: 1) To become like Jesus, 2) To
give Him praise and glory, 3) To bring others into unity with Him, 4) To share
His wisdom with the world, and 5) To serve Him with the specific gifts and
abilities we have been given. (All of these can be summarized into the top two
commandments—love God and love people.)
I think we tend to jump to number
five and overlook the first two. God calls us first and foremost into
relationship with Him for our own salvation and growth into maturity in the
likeness of Christ. God never said, “I’ll save Dawn because I know she is key
to saving Sally, Susie and Sam.” It’s not a numbers game. He doesn’t need us to do anything for Him, though our
work will be a result of the Spirit’s work in and through us. So the question I
ask myself is how much time and attention do I give to my own spiritual growth?
I know I go through cycles of apathy, interest, dedication, and frustration.
I’ve read that pastors spend so much time preparing for what they are going to
preach and teach others that they tend to neglect their own development (though
we have to remember that we’re in this together and what benefits the Body can
also benefit the pastor and vice versa). I need to continually seek those
devotional aids and opportunities that will strengthen my faith, hope and love.
The second question that comes to mind is how much attention
I give to opportunities to praise and worship God? As I’ve mentioned in
previous blogs, worship is our response to what God has done, and is not
necessarily dependent on set times and places. At the same time, I often need
those established times to remind me to set aside all my busyness and remember
who God is. If giving God praise and glory is one of my primary purposes in
life, I need to look for opportunities both to thank God for what He has done
and is doing and to share that with others.
I’ve recently gone through some steps in identifying my
specific roles in the Body, though I still tend to question at times whether
I’m fulfilling God’s purpose for me. So I have to go back to Voillaume’s quote
and remind myself that God is the one who makes me both usable and useful. The
question is whether I trust Him enough to let Him do His work and believe that
“He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me” (2 Timothy
1:12) and that “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at
the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). Some days that’s easier said than
believed.
As Brennan Manning wrote in The Signature of Jesus, “If I ask myself, ‘What am I doing walking
around this planet? Why do I exist?’ as a disciple of Jesus I must answer, ‘For
the sake of Christ.’”
