"Useful" by Alex Florindo
We all have probably felt at some point in time that our spiritual
lives feel like an uphill battle. We look up, and there's God in all of
hHs glory, and we are so far down the mountain we feel too disconnected
to even start to climb. This past semester especially, I have yet to
feel content with where I am in my spiritual walk. Like so many of us,
we set our standards too high and disappoint ourselves in the end. I
try to make a new pledge to myself to do a devotional every morning,
volunteer more often, get involved with weekly community service, maybe
even go on a big mission trip to in some distant country. Yet, after
just a few days, my goals diminish and I am left starting at the bottom
of the mountain again.
But it's at the bottom of the mountain, when I
feel useless to His kingdom, that God desires to use me even more as a
light in this world. And yet, I am so unworthy of this unfailing love
and abundant grace He has shone. I am completely dumbfounded that God
would choose me, the least of these, to spread His love. As I begin to
doubt heart, I am gently reminded by the verses found in 2 Corinthians
12:9-10:
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect
in my weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my
weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for
Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
It is in our weaknesses that God uses us for His glory. Now I realized
it's no longer a mountain to climb up but God that comes down to meet
us.
