Sunday, June 4, 2017

Broken to be Useful



Jesus and needs to break
us before He can use us. The egg needs to be broken before it can be
used. The bread needs to be broken before it can be eaten. The wine
needs to be made before it can be poured it is made of grapes and
those grapes have got to be crushed in order to produce the wine. The
clay needs to be molded in order to make a pot but the glory goes to
the maker, not to the material that he uses to produce his product.
Jesus needs to break us
before He can use us. How does He break us? He breaks us through
suffering, humiliation, pain, often through sickness; because we need
to become less and Jesus must become more. Jesus needs to break down
that which we are, our image, our pride, our self sufficiency, that
which we are, in order to use us for His glory, but if we are not
willing to submit to Him to allow Him to break us and make us into
that which He wants to make of us, then we are useless for the
kingdom of God and He will discard of us. If we are a rotten egg, He
will throw us away. If we are sour grapes we are not suitable for
wine. If we are lumpy and unmoldable clay then the Potter cannot use
us, and He will discard of us. He will use another lump of clay to
produce His product. We need to become less and Jesus must become
more. He must form us and make us and reduce us to that which is
usable for Him, for His kingdom and for His glory. Jesus must be
glorified through what He attains through us. We must submit
ourselves to Him and allow Him to form us, to make us into that which
He wants to make of us.
We must allow Him to use
us. We must submit to Him and let Him use us for that which He
pleases. It is not about our plans, our will, our wisdom, our
abilities, our image; is not about us, it is about Jesus, about His
glory, the kingdom of God.
Are we usable? Will we
submit to Jesus when he puts us through suffering, through pain? How
do we react? Do we first run to the doctor or do we submit to Jesus
and ask Him:"Lord have Your way in my life."? If He puts
us in a bad neighborhood among bad people, how do we react? Do we
want to change the neighborhood, do we get annoyed or do we allow the
love and the light of Jesus Christ to flow through us? Are we here
for Jesus or for ourselves? Are we offended? Are we hurt? Are we
selfish? Are we ambitious, or do we submit ourselves to the Master
and let Him use us as He pleases for His kingdom. We need to be
broken before we can be used, and we cannot break ourselves. We must
allow the Master to break us, in the way which pleases Him. We must
follow Him where He takes us. We must allow Him to put us where He
wants to use us. We must submit to Jesus, go where He sends us, live
where He wants us to live. Give up what He wants us to give up, not
what we want to give up. We have to submit to Him. Let Him have His
way in us. Thank Him and praise Him in all things.
Look at the example of
Job. He accepted the good times from God, the blessings, but when he
was chastised he did not complain, he did not moan. He was a thankful
to receive both the good and the bad from God. Do we have that
attitude? Are we willing to be broken to be used? Are we willing to
let Jesus Christ have His way with us. If we are not willing to be
broken to be used then we are not suitable for His kingdom and He
will discard of us. We must allow Jesus to have His way with us, in
us and through us; all for His glory.
May Jesus bless you.

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