In 2002 I visited Texas and a friend who lives there. I visited his church and the Pastor told a story, every night, about how the Lord had healed him and his wife. This was not just backache or a headache, on one occasion he said his eye fell out of its socket and the Lord put it back for him! I immediately latched onto this guy and saw his scheme. If he could get the people in the church seeing him as spiritually superior to him, this would install an authority he needed to have people follow him. Generally he was saying "see how regularly and powerfully the Lord uses me. You can be like me if you follow me." Note the use of the word 'me.' I've seen this many times and it always leads to Christians feeling inadequate.
There are many people doing things for God and like to tell others how wonderful they are and how their faith does this and that. When someone does this it is an indication that they are lacking in maturity in Christ. Firstly, and indication of this is that one of the Lord's disciplines is to NOT act on your behalf! We ask him for something and it does not come to pass. Those who take the 'Ask Seek Knock' passage to mean we can ask Him for, say, a doughnut, and He will give it to you need to ... well... try it. The Lord takes us through a time in our growth where we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness to ascertain that this is not just a rich Granddaddy relationship. Telling people it's easy to trust God for things often shows you've never really trusted Him. How do I know? Because it's supposed to be hard to trust God! The disciples were rebuked for having little faith and Jesus was stood in front of them!
Secondly, people who are always telling people about Jesus intimidate the likes of me who isn't always telling people about Jesus. It's not because I don't want to... of course I do. It's just that I've been placed in environments where I have to live it out before people.
Matt 5:16
1) Let your light shine before men
2) they will see your good works
3) They will praise your Father in heaven.
Don't get me wrong, if I'm on a plane or something, I'll share for sure. But in the day to day relationships it's the long haul of living through the hard times and good, shining this light.
The third problem with people who say they are greatly used of God, in saying this, are showing how unlike Paul they are. We must say that Paul is the ultimate example of a Christian. His resume is impressive! However he was the one in the wars, he was the chief of sinners and backwards and forwards with his self denial of the flesh (Rom 7). He never told people how great his relationship and powerful works were, he just directed people to the Lord Himself.
The Gospel starts with belonging. There is never a criteria to fit or value system around works. If you, like me, often feel inadequate, useless and insignificant to the Lord and His work, it's probably where He wants you. He doesn't want you spiraling into a free-fall over your self esteem, value or worth. It is the western society that has taught you to value yourself through your works. In Christ you can separate these things for good. You self esteem, value and self worth can be seen through the lens of being entirely accepted, loved and adored by your Father in heaven. He has chosen you so just accept it! Then begin to enjoy NOT having to define yourself through what you do, accomplish or aspire to. Maybe the Lord will use us but it surely will not be while we equate our works with our value.
Gary Ward
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