How God Uses You

By Tim Hallman
Acts 14:27-28

On arrival, they got the church together and reported on their trip, telling in detail how God had used them to throw the door of faith wide open so people of all nations could come streaming in. Then they settled down for a long, leisurely visit with the disciples.

How does God use you? Are there moments where you are aware of when God is using you? Do you look back and ever have "aha!" moments of when you now perceive that God had used you for his work?

Having read through the first half of the book of Acts, it has surely become clear that when God uses a man or woman, there is a certain amount of unpredictability as to what the outcomes will be. This chapter is one more example of how being a disciple of Jesus, of letting God work through you, produces unexpected results.

It's to be expected that there will be opposition to the gospel of God, and that there will be welcome acceptance of the good news from Jesus. But which individuals who will oppose or accept is always a surprise. Sometimes it is the wealthy who accept and the zealous crowds who oppose, sometimes it is the women who accept and it is the men who oppose - or it could be the other way around. Sometimes the opposition gets violent, the threats get murderous.

When Paul and Barnabas scoot out of Iconium to avoid getting beat up, they end up in Lystra - a town of non-Jews, a village of pagans who worship the local deities and the Greek gods/goddesses. Before the apostles get preaching, they meet a lame man at the city gate. Paul discerns his readiness to be healed, his willingness to believe the good news of Jesus. The lame man is set free from his infirmity, he hops up and skips on home.

The crowd, however, responds in a very unexpected way: they proclaim Paul and Barnabas to be Hermes and Zeus! It's all that the two apostles can do to stop the pagan festival and sacrificial feast in their honor. Paul's preaching gets the priests to cease their preparations of the oxen, but then some zealous Jews show up from Iconium. They get the stirred up crowd even more stirred up! Instead of a celebration of Zeus coming down to them, the pagan villagers stone Paul and leave him for dead!

What a turn of events! As Paul prayed his way through the stoning, as he absorbed the blows and struggled to remain conscious, he must have wondered: is this how God uses me? Yes; yes it is. Barnabas waits till the crowds dissipate, and then drags his pal out of the rubble. They get out of town, get Paul patched up - and then they head back to Lystra and Iconium and the other villages to encourage the disciples there! And yes, this is how God used Paul - the hobbling, scarface apostle announcing the reign of God the peacemaker:

After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: "Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times."

How does God use you?

You are not Paul. Nor Barnabas. You are you. And if you've signed up for the kingdom of God, then you are under the rule of God. And you are instructed to love God and love your neighbor. And that is enough to get you in trouble like Paul. This presumes, of course, that you love from the depths of your being, that your generosity is sacrificial, that you do not play favorites with the rich or poor, and that you speak the truth as a gift of kindness.

How does God use you?

The hardships you endure as a result of your submission to loving God and loving neighbor will give you ample opportunity to encourage those who try to love but are burdened with timidity, anxiety, and a pre-occupation with their self. Your love of God and love of neighbor will bring you suffering - if you seek to love in the name of Jesus. And this is how God uses you.

How does God use you?