“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Cor. 15:58
Ever consider what it takes to be used by God? One day I started reflecting on why the Lord had given me the blessing, honor, and privilege of using me like never before – in unimaginable, ever-increasing, incredibly beautiful ways. I saw seven reasons, and I believe they are common to countless people in the Bible used by God.
- NEW BIRTH. I am born again and Spirit filled. I have sought God’s forgiveness for my sins, placed my trust in Jesus Christ as Lord who died on the cross for me, been forgiven by God, entered into a forever relationship with God I could not have apart from Christ’s atonement for me on the cross, and received the gift of and am being re-filled with His Spirit. I am saved by God’s grace.
- JESUS IS LORD. I do not merely intellectually believe in nor simply call Christ Lord. He is my Lord, and I treat Him as such and learn to live accordingly.
- TRAINING AND PREPARATION. I diligently, steadily, continually study His Word, yielding my life to His Spirit to ever conform me to Christ, as God prepares me for eternity with Him and ever equips me to love, worship, and serve Him forever.
- My service to Christ is born out of ever growing love for Him as I spend time with Him daily and hunger and thirst for ever more intimacy with Him and ever more submission to and obedience to His lordship with love, reverence, praise, and adoration.
- I choose daily to learn to die to self and what I want and live for Him and what He wants.
- PASSION, PURSUIT, AND PURPOSE. I passionately pursue HIS purpose for my life rather than mine, willing to forsake my dreams and desires and to accept His for me instead.
- AVAILABILITY AND GLORY. I make myself available to Him as my first love and highest priority, I know I am nothing without Him, and I give HIM glory for the fruits of my service to Him.
Some might call such a life hard, boring, crazy, unhappy, etc. It is hard on the flesh to die to self and live for Christ alone, and is in the world’s eyes crazy. But the love, joy, peace, hope, and excitement I experience daily being in intimate fellowship with Christ and in living to love, serve, and glorify God forever through Him, is beyond measure. Nothing, and nobody, on this earth can compare! The Lord doesn’t use me because I’m special. I’m not! He uses me because I’m HIS. ALL glory is HIS!