1. A lady was talking about something she had done and said, “How can I be wrong when the Lord is using me like he does?”
2. A man was disparaging another person’s attendance and lifestyle and said, “How can the Lord be using that woman when she lives like that?”
Both questions are based on the idea that God only uses people that are doing everything right and that if a person is not “right” they cannot be used by God.
This idea leads to two other equally false premises:
1. That a person can be judged by the miracles or great works for God that they do.
2. That being used is evidence of a holy life.
One question is easily that answered is “Does God only use those who are “right?” The answer to that question has to be “no.” Let’s look at some examples:
1. Balaam’s donkey was not right or even saved, but God spoke to Balaam through him.
2. Caiaphas the high priest prophesied although he was condemning Jesus. John 11:49-52 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
3. Samson could carry the gates of the city off even after having just slept with a harlot--Jdg 16:1 & 3 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
(3) And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.
The two bases for this are answered easily also. Can a person be judged by the great works they do or miracles they perform? Jesus answers that question in Matthew 7:
"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'
(Mat 7:21-23)
So according to Jesus, great works (“being used”) does not equate to holy living and is, therefore, no evidence of God’s favor or a righteous person.
Part of the problem with this kind of thinking is that they are looking for evidence in all the wrong places. Some want to see miracles, signs and wonders but care very little for holiness of attitude and heart. The same person who is so “wonderfully used” in the gifts of the Spirit has no interest in cultivating the fruit of the Spirit.
Among Pentes, it leads to such things as a person who says, “Well, I give out messages in tongues and interpret” who are simultaneously the most arrogant and unpleasant person one could ever have the displeasure to encounter. But because of their “spiritual” attainment, they “know” that their life is fine and approved by the Almighty.
Some may think the foregoing is merely caricature and that no real person exhibits this kind of behavior. If you are among those believing such, let me be the one to disabuse you of that fallacy. I know (and have known) many folks that do and have done the very things I have described.
One reason I want to bring this out is the great spiritual danger attendant upon this type of thinking. A person can be easily deluded into feeling perfectly secure in their sinful lifestyle because they can still speak in tongues. They can have horrible fits of anger and act in all kind of ungodly ways and still feel justified in doing so because they “speak in tongues every day” or because “God is still answering my prayers.”
This kind of self-delusion is the worst type of delusion because when one believes that God is validating her/his life, they see no need to change or repent. After all, “if the Spirit of the Lord is still using me, I must be doing something right.” (This is the same idiotic retort given when the heresies of some church or pastor are mentioned: “Well, they are growing exponentially so they must be doing something right.)
