What Kind of Person Does God Use?

Growing up in church, I learned there were standards for being used by God. Most of the standards involved character. We learned, both directly and indirectly, the standards involved being holy or righteous, skilled, willing, among a few others. These are the three that stick out most, though.

Theologically speaking, none of us are holy, but I think what they meant was you went to church a lot and didn't use tobacco or cuss. As for being skilled, I think it mostly meant you were a good communicator. Being used by God, at the time, meant mostly doing church work. And then, of course, you had to be willing. If you were willing, it was said, God would use you.

As for what God was doing in the world through the church, I deduced two main priorities: 1. Grow the church and 2. Make God look good. The church was doing other things, but this seemed to be the primary focus.

I have since learned the objectives of the church are different than the objectives of God. And I've also learned the people God can use are different than the people the church can use. If you glance at scripture for just a second, you'd get the sense that God uses perverts and criminals. If you glance at the church (at least the modern, megachurch) you get the sense God uses preachers that were once in the band Rascall Flats but laid it all down to rock a Bible.

God's Primary Objective in the World: To save many lives. I get this, of course, from nearly every major character in scripture from Joseph to Moses to Jonah to the Law itself to Christ and the Apostles and beyond. If God is doing anything in the world, he's attempting to rescue people while still giving them the freedom to choose him or deny him.

Who God Uses: God uses anybody he wants. The only holy person God uses in scripture is Jesus, so he certainly uses people who are unholy. He also uses people who have little skill or talent. Moses comes to mind, who was a terrible leader at first. He could hardly speak and was unwilling to talk in front of Pharaoh because he was convinced God had chosen the wrong man. And as for being willing, Jonah was completely unwilling but God used him anyway. So you don't have to be holy, skilled or willing to be used by God. Any teaching otherwise goes against scripture. Call me a fundamentalist.

It goes without saying he used all these people to save many lives.Can you think of a major character in scripture who wasn't involved in a story about saving lives?

This is no argument against the church. The church absolutely needs to hold a different standard than God. God doesn't have to vet his leaders like the church does. Can you imagine interviewing Moses for the job of lead pastor, listening to him stammer out a bunch of excuses in response to the inquiry about that pesky murder in his past, and then the elders making a gut decision to give him the job anyway? So I don't have a problem with the church having a higher standard than God. But if we lead people to believe they cant be used by God to save lives even though they aren't a fit for professional ministry, we are making a huge mistake, and it would be an interesting debate as to whether we are being guided by the Bible in our thinking. God can use anybody he wants. Anybody, anytime. He displays this over and over in the scriptures.

If you're wondering whether God will use you, there's no telling. Preachers say God wants to use us and list qualifications all the time but very little of that is Biblical. We like to turn narrative passages into laws or principals about God, but that's exactly what Satan does with the scriptures. The truth is, God is a being with a mind of his own and he can do what he wants. We can't control him, we can only influence him by telling him what we want and by making our requests known. The best analogy is to think of God as a father. A good father, that is. He works kinda like a person, and not kinda like a computer that you enter code in so it will spit out a response that correlates with your code.

I don't know if God will use you. I can't think of a reason he wouldn't, but I'm not God and neither is your pastor so there's no telling. I only know God is trying to save many lives and that he uses anybody he wants.

If you want to be used by God, the best thing you can do is tell him. So if you've felt unqualified to be used by God, you aren't. You may be unqualified to be used by the church, but you aren't unqualified to be used by God, because he can use anybody. He even used a donkey. And a serpent that turned into a rod. And a rock that spit water. He can use anybody he wants. Maybe he wants to use you.

 

What Kind of Person Does God Use? is a post from: Donald Miller's Blog