Articles
Useful to God
Do you believe in God? I’m not asking if you believe He exists. I’m asking if you really believe in His knowledge and wisdom. Do you believe that God is good? Can you sing out in praise like the Psalmist, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good” (Ps. 106:1; 107:1; etc.)? Do you agree that “every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (Jam. 1:17)? If so, then wouldn’t it be exciting to know that you can be a part of God’s wondrous works and plans. You can be “useful to the Master” (II Tim. 2:21). How?
- Clean up your life. God’s word says, “If anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master” (II Tim. 2:21). What are “these things” that we need to get rid of? Context suggests it is useless arguing (II Tim. 2:14), false teaching (II Tim. 2:16-18), and wickedness (II Tim. 2:19). Logically, if we are always starting up arguments, teaching error and doing evil things then we are in the way of God’s good plans. We aren’t useful, we are detrimental. However, if we cleanse ourselves of these things, then we will be useful to the Master.
- Be prepared for every good work. It stands to reason that if we want to be more useful to God that we need to be prepared to be used in more situations and more often. This is also how II Tim. 2:21 (partially quoted earlier) ends, “useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” We are useful when we are prepared. We are useful when we are prepared for any type of good work that might come our direction. Context helps us know what we can do to accomplish this. Be a diligent worker and use God’s word correctly (II Tim. 2:15). It is important that we know and apply the Bible. After all, God’s word is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3:16-17). If you know God’s word and live it, then you will be more useful to God.
- Focus on being faithful with whatever you have. Don’t worry about how much money you have. It isn’t how much you have that matters; it is what you do with what you have that makes the difference. After all, “he who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much” (Lk. 16:10a). On the other hand, the opposite is also true. “He who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much” (Lk. 16:10b). If God can trust you “to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,” then God can trust you with blessings in this life because He knows you will use them to serve his purpose. It would be easy to focus only on money, but this principle applies much more broadly than that. What you have might be time, health, strength, or various skills. Whatever you have, focus on using it to serve God. The more you do that, the more you prove your usefulness to Him.
The truth is, God can use anyone and they don’t even have to be righteous, faithful or knowledgeable of God’s word. God can, and has, used wicked people to accomplish His will. He used hard-hearted Pharaoh, but that didn’t go well for Pharaoh. He used wicked Babylon, but that didn’t go well for Babylon. He can use anyone. Being useful is different. Joseph was useful. His faithfulness and character allowed God to use him to save Israel from famine. God was the one at work; He saved Israel. But Joseph was useful and that ended up going well for him. He was put in charge of a nation and is known as being approved by God (Heb. 11:2,22).
It is so much better to be useful to God than to simply be used by God. His ways are wondrous. Everything about Him is good. How exciting that we can be a willful tool in His hands to accomplish His work! Have you put yourself in a position where you are useful this week?
