TODAY IS…

a great day to allow God to use you.

“As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man called Matthew, sitting in a tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, ‘Follow Me!’ And he got up and followed Him.”  Matthew 9:9 NASB

There is something in each of us that God wants to use.

There is something we have learned through our experiences in life that we can share with others to benefit them or help them grow as Christians. Many of us are prone to diminishing our usefulness to God, thinking that we are just common people with average everyday experiences. Others, perhaps, have experienced tremendous trials, tribulations or sorrows that we may feel are too deeply personal or embarrassing to share with others. Possibly we feel that our sins have been too great to enable us to be of use to Him. We may think that these are private matters that are ours alone, but if we allow God free reign over our hearts, we may find Him using our experiences to assist others in their time of need.

The things we wish to keep to ourselves may be just the thing needed to help someone else find the correct path before they have wandered too far down the wrong one.

It is not our place to question God’s needs, His motives or His methods. It is our place to trust Him to use us in a manner that will please Him and allow us to fulfill our obligations to Him and to ourselves; to reach out to others that they may benefit from the truth of our experiences.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 ESV

God can use the bad in our lives to work some good in someone else’s.

It is a well-documented fact that God has made great use of those who may be considered common, ordinary or average. It is also a well-known fact that He has made great use of those who have suffered and those who have sinned.

God used Joseph, who was a slave, to save Egypt and his family.

God used Moses, a shepherd as well as a murderer, to lead Israel out of its bondage to Egypt.

God used David, a shepherd boy, to be Israel’s greatest king.

God used Esther, who was a slave girl, to save her people.

God used Peter, a fisherman, to be an Apostle and a leader of the early church.

God used Matthew, a tax collector (an altogether despised occupation even then) to be an Apostle and Gospel writer.

God used Mary, a peasant girl, to be the mother of Christ.

And God sent His Son, Jesus, a humble carpenter, to provide salvation to the world.

If we open our hearts to God and allow Him to use us, we will be able to add our names to this list of incredibly common people.

So use the gift of today to give the gift of yourself to someone who just may need to hear what you have to say.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson