Does God Really Just Want to "Use" Us?
Can I just be honest? I really have started to hate it when people say, "God is going to use you for great things". Have you heard people say stuff like that before?? "God is really using that person!", or "God is going to use your past for His glory"?
I donno, but is it just me, or does "God using you" sound kind of abusive? Am I crazy?
Because, at least to me, God only wanting to "use" me sounds pretty much just like most everyone else in the world: they just want to use me. For what I can do for them, for their kids, for their I don't even know. I do it too - I really do. It is rare and far between to find a person in this world who doesn't want you because of what you can do for them, but just because of who you are behind all the coverups and identity masks.
I guess the reason I've just now started noticing this statement about "God using people for His glory, kingdom, ministry, etc." is because I've also been noticing this trend in human nature recently. We all just want to use each other, like objects, for our own personal egos and gain. It's pretty twisted but true. At least from what I've been noticing in myself.
If God really does want to give me love, and heal my broken heart, and take my past and turn it all around, all because He just wants to use me... It just sounds gross to be honest. That sounds like a pretty sick God who only wants me to be healthy and whole so He can turn around and use me just like everybody else has. I mean, that's what He would be healing me from in the first place - people abusing my heart and using me for themselves.
And honestly, I really don't know if I'm being sacrilegious or just honest right now...
But part of me thinks I might be stumbling onto something new.
Maybe God isn't like all the people in my life who just want to use me.
Maybe He's not the God I might have thought He was after all.
That would be nice. Because right now, I really just want someone to love me just because I'm me. Just me. Rebekah. Not because I'm the good babysitter, or because I'm slightly funny sometimes, or a good leader, or musician, or singer, or student, or church attender, or Sunday school volunteer, or neighbor, or house cleaner, or mentor, or book reader, or prayer meeting attender, or blogger. Or even because I'm a spiritually driven person (which I'm finding might just be a cover up so I don't have to face my own neediness before the Lord).
It's all just very interesting to think about.
What does God want from me?
Does He want to use me? Does He want to assign me to a task? Does He want to just sit back and watch me try to live my life somewhat decently?
What does God want from me?
What does God want from you?
Because, if I were to guess, I would think that, if Jesus really is the Son of God, like He says He is, then I don't think God is anything like the creepy, abusive, gross god who just wants to use all of us people down here for His own glory and kingdom and whatever else.
I mean (and I'm just thinking out loud right now), Jesus never once healed someone so He could turn around and use them to make himself famous. I'm just thinking - doesn't it say a lot of times in the Gospels that Jesus actually told people NOT to tell about His miracles? Doesn't seem like He was trying to make them into some publicity statistic or something. Doesn't seem like He wanted to "use" the people He healed from blindness and deafness and leprosy, and lameness to make Himself feel better about Himself and His own abilities.
I think He just wanted them to be healthy.
Just because He is good and kind and amazing like that.
I think He did it because He loved them.
And because He wanted them to love Him back.
And if God is Jesus' Daddy, like Jesus says He is, then that means that He wants the same thing from all of us too - to heal us and love us just because He wants us to be healthy. And because He loves us. And because He wants us to love Him in return.
I donno, but is it just me, or does "God using you" sound kind of abusive? Am I crazy?
Because, at least to me, God only wanting to "use" me sounds pretty much just like most everyone else in the world: they just want to use me. For what I can do for them, for their kids, for their I don't even know. I do it too - I really do. It is rare and far between to find a person in this world who doesn't want you because of what you can do for them, but just because of who you are behind all the coverups and identity masks.
I guess the reason I've just now started noticing this statement about "God using people for His glory, kingdom, ministry, etc." is because I've also been noticing this trend in human nature recently. We all just want to use each other, like objects, for our own personal egos and gain. It's pretty twisted but true. At least from what I've been noticing in myself.
If God really does want to give me love, and heal my broken heart, and take my past and turn it all around, all because He just wants to use me... It just sounds gross to be honest. That sounds like a pretty sick God who only wants me to be healthy and whole so He can turn around and use me just like everybody else has. I mean, that's what He would be healing me from in the first place - people abusing my heart and using me for themselves.
And honestly, I really don't know if I'm being sacrilegious or just honest right now...
But part of me thinks I might be stumbling onto something new.
Maybe God isn't like all the people in my life who just want to use me.
Maybe He's not the God I might have thought He was after all.
That would be nice. Because right now, I really just want someone to love me just because I'm me. Just me. Rebekah. Not because I'm the good babysitter, or because I'm slightly funny sometimes, or a good leader, or musician, or singer, or student, or church attender, or Sunday school volunteer, or neighbor, or house cleaner, or mentor, or book reader, or prayer meeting attender, or blogger. Or even because I'm a spiritually driven person (which I'm finding might just be a cover up so I don't have to face my own neediness before the Lord).
It's all just very interesting to think about.
What does God want from me?
Does He want to use me? Does He want to assign me to a task? Does He want to just sit back and watch me try to live my life somewhat decently?
What does God want from me?
What does God want from you?
Because, if I were to guess, I would think that, if Jesus really is the Son of God, like He says He is, then I don't think God is anything like the creepy, abusive, gross god who just wants to use all of us people down here for His own glory and kingdom and whatever else.
I mean (and I'm just thinking out loud right now), Jesus never once healed someone so He could turn around and use them to make himself famous. I'm just thinking - doesn't it say a lot of times in the Gospels that Jesus actually told people NOT to tell about His miracles? Doesn't seem like He was trying to make them into some publicity statistic or something. Doesn't seem like He wanted to "use" the people He healed from blindness and deafness and leprosy, and lameness to make Himself feel better about Himself and His own abilities.
I think He just wanted them to be healthy.
Just because He is good and kind and amazing like that.
I think He did it because He loved them.
And because He wanted them to love Him back.
And if God is Jesus' Daddy, like Jesus says He is, then that means that He wants the same thing from all of us too - to heal us and love us just because He wants us to be healthy. And because He loves us. And because He wants us to love Him in return.
I get what you are saying, Rebekah. I get it. And I. too, dislike (and am creeped out) over the saying or worship song, or sermon or book that tells me my worth to the Lord is what I DO for Him. I think we get side-tracked when we concentrate on the "being used." It puts the focus in the wrong place. On me.
ReplyDeleteI believe with all my heart that my God loves me because He loves me. Period. Not to USE me. He loves me because I delight Him. And all He wants from me is my love. Period.