Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands
When you woke up this morning, while you drove to church, or when you found your seat, did it cross your mind to ask, “Lord, how do You want to use me to love, serve, and encourage Your people today?”
If you’re anything like me, those words aren’t found on your lips as often as they should be. And yet, if you belong to Christ, we know that two realities are always true at the same time.
First, you are a sinner in continual need of God’s grace. You never outgrow your need to be ministered to by Christ through His Word, His Spirit, and His people.
Second, you have been called to minister to others in their need.
Those two truths are not in tension—they actually depend on one another. The very people God often uses most powerfully are those who know their own need for His grace. Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 remind us that as we receive God’s comfort, He equips us to extend that same comfort to others.
Likewise, 1 Corinthians 12-14 reminds us that the Spirit has given each believer gifts—not for ourselves, but for the building up of the body. The New Testament overflows with commands to love one another, serve one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, and bear one another’s burdens.
Even our hardships are not wasted. In God’s wisdom, the trials through which He has faithfully carried us often become the very means by which we can strengthen someone else walking a similar road.
So which is it? Should we come humbly, ready to receive ministry from others, or should we come ready to minister to them?
The answer is yes—both.
Brothers and sisters, this is God’s good design for His church. We are a people who daily need and receive grace from Christ, and we are a people through whom Christ delights to extend His grace to others.
Each of us has good reason to ask: Have I lived this way? Have I come to Christ acknowledging my need? And have I made myself available for Him to use in the lives of others?
Let’s take a few moments now to come before the Lord in humble confession, asking Him to forgive us where we have fallen short and to make us a people who gladly receive His grace and joyfully extend it to others.
