Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For many years, I have prayed to be used of God. I have looked at the great heroes of the faith such as those found in Hebrews 11 praying that God would use me as He used them to do a great work for Him.
However, there is something about that prayer that has come to bother me. The fact is, I have been unable to find a find a holy man or woman praying to be used of God anywhere in the Bible. Furthermore, I have been unable to find a passage that commands or even suggests we should pray that God would use us.
On the other hand, I have been able to think of a lot of passages such as this one in Ecclesiastes that command us to fear God and to obey Him.
More than the exact words we use in our prayers, the greater issue is the question of our heart. That is, we often pray not just that God's kingdom would be advanced or that we would be obedient or reverence Him more, but rather, our prayer is to do great things for God or see God do great things through US. In short, we earnestly desire to do God's work, but in a way that makes US big.
I am convinced that some "great" men and women who did great things for God will be found wanting because they shirked their basic duties of obedience, holiness, and humility.
They won souls and ignored their family. They pastored many people yet were cruel to the helpless. They sang beautiful songs yet had no joy. They visited the needy and the sick while their loved ones went unloved. They rushed to help the helpless afar off as their neighbor stood begging. They maintained a smiling persona while the inner man shriveled up and died.
While they may be remembered in stories, books, and movies, they are largely forgotten or even hated by their families and neighbors. Neither will they be honored in heaven.
—Luke
Comments
Very thought provoking and an
Very thought provoking and an indictement on the culture of Christianity we often find around us. Praying for God to use us, instead of praying for Christ to be magnified, and God to be glorified. Thanks for sharing this thought...
Ross, Thanks for the kind
Ross,
Thanks for the kind words.
—Luke
Excellent topic!!
As I read your blog today, Luke, it resounded with me and the book I recently finished entitled, When People are Big and God is Small by Edward T. Welch. I highly recommend this book as it addresses the topic you write about in an open, honest manner based on Scripture.
I highlight a quote on page 167, "According to Ephesians, what do we really need? We need to be a corporate body, smitten with the glory of God, committed to the unity of the church, deluged by his love, and faithful as we walk together in obedience to him, even in our suffering. We need to need other people less and love other people more."
"All this takes us full circle. The question was, Who are we? But our answer leaves us looking at Jesus. It can be no other way. An accurate knowledge of ourselves forces us to look to Jesus. After all, we are to be filled with Christ, and like mirrors, reflect his glory."
It's amazing how even our godly deeds can become idols in our lives, causing our reflection of Christ's glory to grow dim and our "self" to become puffed up. We need to "repent of our righteousness" as Paul Tripp would say and clean up that mirror so we can get back to the business of reflecting Christ for all the world to be amazed at His wonderful glory!
I'll give it a read
Kelly,
Thanks for the note. The book sounds really interesting. I will try to get a copy and read it soon.
—Luke
Add new comment