If I was to imagine God as a mechanic I would see Him with tools and helpers. He uses both to get His work done.

Sometimes He asks us to do something and we do, and that gets it done. Just like a real mechanic can do the work himself, God does not need us. However, out of His grace, He chooses to use us. “Hold this.” “Bring me that.” “Loosen this.” “Tighten that.” We learn more about how the machine (which He created) works and more about how He works. It is great to be a helper for Him. In fact it is the most fulfilling endeavor you will ever take, because that is why we were created. (Ephesians 2:10, Philippians 2:13)

Following on the heels of helpers, and using the same scriptures, it is not hard to see that there are also tools that God uses. The difference between a helper and a tool is that the tool has no will. The tool just is. It makes no choices as to what it will do, it is merely an object in God’s hands. I think more often we are just a tool.

If feels a lot better to be a helper than a tool. Do we have a choice in the matter? I think we do. I think by watching and listening to the Master we can learn how to be a helper and not merely a tool. We can learn what comes next in the process. We can listen to the sounds of the machine. We can be willing and not inanimate.

He is going to use you either way, which are you going to be?

Looking back at my last two posts I came to this conclusion:

Has God told you to go? Go there. However, if He has not, then you are where you are supposed to be. Do not seek to be somewhere you are not. Work it out, where you are, in joy.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing. Phil 2:12b-14 NKJV

We must really “work it out”. The word Paul uses is katergazomai.

1. to perform, accomplish, achieve
2. to work out i.e. to do that from which something results
3. to fashion i.e. render one fit for a thing

It is not a free ride. We are meant to struggle and strain, with fear and trembling. Do not complain, do not argue. It is not for your interest you are working. It is His. We can, however, rest in the fact that He knows ours.

I heard my pastor say last week that some people might be fine with God right now, and that others may be struggling. I know he did not mean it this way, but people who are “fine” are not. Are you perfect? Because fine means you are not changing. I know not all change is good, but no change is bad.

So what is your struggle? With What are you having a hard time? What in your life is causing you to change? That is a good thing. Back in the post Moral Derivative I talked about working at another level. Are you? What is the goal? Are you working towards it?