useful men

Jonathan Edwards said:

Useful men are some of the greatest blessings of a people. To have many such is more for a people’s happiness than almost anything, unless it be God’s own gracious, spiritual presence amongst them: they are precious gifts of heaven"

Earlier today I started a post about the frustrations that I and others have been having with our churches. Over the past 2-3 weeks I've had dinners, lunches, emails, and phone conversations with literally dozens of believers. Sadly, the common denominator in the majority of these conversations have been that we are carrying some kind of hurt and, at least in part, we blamed the church we attend as the source (no - we are not all from the same church).

Today I am choosing to change that focus to asking what is God revealing and shaping inside of me through these circumstances and then thanking God for the godly men He is using to shape that within me. While I cannot defend everything each leader I know has done, I understand that they are in the positions they are in because God has put them there. They are not there by accident. If for no other reason, they are there at this moment in time to be used by God to form me. Today I choose to thank Him for these guys and recognize them as His gifts to His body. I pray that just as He is shaping me and cleansing me from the garbage of my old nature, that He would do the same for them and increase their usefulness in His Kingdom.

In this I am reminded of the sequence in Isaiah 6:

1. we see the Lord in His Glory
2. our sin is exposed
3. we repent
4. we are healed of our sin and it is taken away
5. we hear His call
6. we respond by going and being His messenger to the nations

Far too often the sequence really looks like this:

1. we look at the people around us (often our church leaders)
2. we try to expose their sin
3. we try to get them to repent
4. they don't change in our eyes
5. we leave
6. we try to make the best of the next place we go to
   
7. the cycle starts over

Today I am surrounded by useful men that are spiritual and appointed by God yet I choose to focus on their faults. God is saying to focus on Him and His glory. When we do that, we change. We change by the power of His Spirit and often through help given by the godly men we would otherwise attack. Lord forgive me and help set my eyes on You.

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