God's Glory Church

“He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” — 1 Corinthians 1:31

James Morris was once called an “ignorant layman with a hot heart”, but God used him to lead Augustus Toplady to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Toplady, the author of the well-known Christian hymn “This Gracious Rock”, described Morris’s sermon as he heard it: “It is amazing that I … drew near to God … among a small group of believers gathered in a barn, and through the ministry of one who could barely speak his own name. It is certainly the work of the Lord’s hands, and it is amazing.”

God does do amazing things in the most unexpected places and through those we may think of as “unqualified” or just ordinary people. In the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul reminds us: “Look, brothers, at your called, that few are wise according to the flesh, few are strong, few are noble” (1 Cor. 1:26). Although the Corinthian believers were ordinary citizens, by God’s grace they did not lack gifts and usefulness (see v. 7). And God, who knows how to put boasters in their place (vv. 27-29), acted among them and through them.

Do you consider yourself “normal” or even think that you are worse than others? Don’t bother. If you are with the Lord and want Him to work through you, that is enough. Let the words: “God, use me!” sound more often in your prayer.

Who comes to mind when you think of those whom God has used effectively? What can you do to shift your focus from what you have or don’t have to what God can do through you?

Heavenly Father, forgive me for focusing more on myself than on You. Use me in Your holy service.

Author: Arthur Jackson