Used

   An acquaintance once said, “ We should never speak of God using people. God doesn’t use people.” I understood what she was saying, at least for one connotation of the word. In common parlance, to be ‘used’ by someone carries a negative connotation:  used and discarded, thrown away, a selfish consumption without thought or care for the one ‘used.’  Left behind in a sorrowful heap, expendable. Perhaps even ‘used’ for a higher purpose...the sad but necessary expending of the one to save many.

   However, God’s ‘use’ of us never takes away value; it always adds it.  When we are willing to be ‘used’ by God, we find ourselves the recipient of great blessing.  When God blesses others through us, especially when sacrifice is involved, He brings increase to us in a myriad of ways.

   As with so many of God’s truths, His  economy is upside down from the world’s. When we’re used by God to bless others and expand His Kingdom, we come out with more, not less. He never ‘spends’ one person for another...or the one for the good of the many as if the one were expendable. He only spends us for great gain for both parties. The only exception is when He did so to Himself...the complete and utter sacrifice of Himself for our gain out of pure, unadulterated love.

   Perhaps being used by God would be better expressed: “Make me a blessing to others, Lord.”  Now this prayer might sometimes be answered in an uncomfortable way. Or it might take place in a way we barely know it’s happening. (Since I'm not big on suffering, those are definitely my preference.)

   Sometimes our gain is overtly seen in multiplied provision and favor.  Other times we see it in the growth and maturation of our character, in our strength and ability to choose what is right and kind and good the next time around. Sometimes we reap the harvest in previously strained relationships or in an inexplicable peace for which we've been searching.

   We often reap a greater trust in the orchestrator of our lives.  As conductor, He raises His arms and calls us to lay down our lives for our brother or sister. When that brother or sister has been a source of pain to us, the call to be a blessing gets dicey.  We have to slog through thick mud to do what He's asking. It reminds me of those nightmares where we're trying to save someone but can't make any progress towards him.  If we break free of that bog of self-justification, however, He blesses us for remembering that the roles of Vindicator and Judge are His and His alone. 

   Recently I had occasion to live this out when I was tempted to 'take my dolls and go home,' as the saying goes.  I wanted to withdraw my usual efforts at helping in a particular situation, letting the person who had 'misused' me flounder and feel the effects of my absence.  However, God would have none of it.  The withdrawal of helpfulness was not on His agenda for me at all. I felt quite justified in leaving this person to her own devices.  However, God reminded me that I was neither justifier nor vindicator.  I had given myself to Him as His Servant and Child, both of which involved obedience.  Being a blessing is so much easier when you like the people you're blessing, isn't it? But since I love Him and want to make Him happy, I slogged through the swamp.

   Regardless of whether or not we see our side of God's creative blessing in this life, we are promised that in Heaven we will indeed experience His reward.  If we're more focused on being a blessing than receiving one, the thought of 'being used' will delight us. We'll be continually excited about opportunities to bless. Especially so when we can partner with Him to lead people to the lighted window of His Home.

   To be used by God is to sometimes be carried along in the river of the of His Holy Spirit and sometimes be stuck in a few eddies, yet always knowing He is Trustworthy, Faithful and True and that we are precious in His sight. Never expendable. Never less valued than another. Never wasted or forsaken. Never broken without His keeping sight of every single shard of our soul, which His Potter hands will make into a work of art more wondrously beautiful than before.
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Matthew 5, 1John 3:16, Luke 14:14, James 1:12

Post-script:  Although we are not to 'strive,' in one sense, in another the term fits, as we set our hearts to swim upstream against the tide of our natural inclinations.  This morning I read the following in my Tozer devotional:
"The true believer is in a state of progression.  He seeks and strives, he wrestles and fights.  He is ever aiming at the prize....His obedience, though not perfect, is habitual."  --AW Tozer