Fitting like a glove

Christians know that God works using us, but we have a hard time explaining it. Today’s reading in God is Enough is about us trusting and God doing the work. The writer offers a question that some might ask: “In one breath you tell us to do nothing but trust, and in the next you tell us to do impossible things. How can you reconcile such contradictory statements?”

I’ve used a glove to illustrate the answer. God is the hand and I am the glove. I’m supposed to be pliable and willing to let Him work through me. People might see only the glove, but the motivating force behind what I’m doing is God. As I yield to Him, I could do amazing things.

The author of this devotional book uses a saw in a carpenter’s shop. People see it cutting wood and say, “Oh, that is a sharp saw; look how it easily slices that log.” Or they might say, “See how easily that carpenter cuts the log” depending on their perspective.

The Bible says, “Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:13). In other words, don’t let any other hand govern the glove; don’t let any other carpenter wield the saw. I’m only the instrument and whatever I do, it must be because of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Both these illustrations use inanimate objects. Maybe we unconsciously selected them because Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

A glove is useless without a hand. A saw only rusts if left to itself. However, God also knows that Christians can live without trusting Him, can act motivated by forces other than His Spirit. That is why He says we must not present ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness to sin or let sin rule our lives. The glove, the saw, belongs to Him.

As I yield myself and my abilities as instruments of righteousness to God, I will experience Him working in me to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Whatever He asks of me may not be prominent by human standards, yet I will know His grace and mercy.

To be yielded to Him is my desire, and perhaps be able to say, with Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly . . . yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).