“That man is a user. He didn’t love her; he just used her and then threw her away.”
There’s a funny thing about Christian language. We have all these phrases that we don’t necessarily think too much about. They’ve just always been there. “God won’t give you more than you can handle” is one of them. Another is “God can use you.” Or “God uses weak people/women/children/disabled people”. When we say it, we mean it for good: we want people to feel like they are valuable—and useful—to God. We want them to know that God doesn’t only work in those who are powerful, or better at being a Christian than we are. It’s a phrase we don’t think too much about because it seems so normal to us.
God used lots of people in the Bible, right? God used the weak, the foolish, the weary, the sad. But here’s the thing: that language is not biblical.
But look back at the first sentence in this article. When you first read it, did you feel like it was a positive statement about the man in question? Did you think it was a good thing that he used a woman?
I’m guessing probably not. So, why do we think it’s a good thing to call God a user? Because we are doing that, every time we say that “God can use you”. We are also calling ourselves tools to be used by God.
We tend to think this kind of language must be in the Bible because it’s so widespread. God used lots of people in the Bible, right? God used the weak, the foolish, the weary, the sad. But here’s the thing: that language is not biblical. There is no instance of the verb “to use” with a person as its object. In other words, nowhere in Scripture does it say “God uses” in terms of the use of people.
There are a few places where people are called “useful” (2 Timothy 2 v 21; 2 Timothy 4 v 11; Philemon 1 v 11). One of these, 2 Timothy 2 v 21, is part of a metaphor in which Christians are compared to pots and vessels. Here, “usefulness” comes in the context of being honoured and set apart. That’s very different from what we usually mean when we talk about someone using someone else: using does not equal honouring! A quick look in a thesaurus shows us that synonyms for the verb “use" include words like control, exploit and expend. These are not helpful words about God’s sovereign and transformative work! No, the Bible has other, much better ways of describing our relationship with God than “using”.
I’ve been chronically ill all my life with degenerative lung disease. I’ve often felt as though I cannot be useful to God, because I cannot do very much. So phrases like “God can use you” have left me feeling very uncomfortable—especially when paired with the idea that if I were healed I would be more useful. A friend of mine was told she should try harder to be healed from her deafness because “God cannot use you like that”. This kind of narrative plays into what I call the “productivity lie”—the idea that we should all be doing more to earn God’s love and favour. If we think of ourselves as being “useful” or “used” first and foremost, we are buying into that lie. This is reflected when those who are strong and successful seem to be more honoured than those who are weak.
God’s kingdom is one where all are honoured and all are vital; where instead of being tools to be used, we are delighted in.
Yet Jesus came to upend this type of thinking. He came to show that in his upside-down kingdom, the first are last and the last are first. Paul’s image of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12 v 27) was a radical subversion of his culture’s notion that there are weaker and stronger members in society and the strong should be valued most of all. Instead, God’s kingdom is one where all are honoured and all are vital; where instead of being tools to be used, we are delighted in (Zephaniah 3 v 17); and where all are equal in Christ (Galatians 3 v 28).
In my new book, Valuable: Why Your Worth Is Not Defined by How Useful You Feel, I reflect in more detail on this kind of language—and on this upside-down kingdom, where we find that our true value is not based in how much we can do but in how much we are loved. I believe there are better words to describe our love-relationship with God than saying that he is a user. Instead of saying we are instruments of use, let’s be liberated by how God joins with us and remains with us (John 15). Let’s rejoice in how God partners with us.
And most of all, may we know that our value does not come with conditions.
Liz Carter is a writer and poet who lives in Shropshire, UK, with her vicar husband and their children. She suffers with a chronic lung condition which sometimes puts her in hospital or prevents her from leaving the house for days or weeks. But she is passionate about Jesus and the hope that he brings! Her other books include Catching Contentment: How to be Holy Satisfied and Treasure in Dark Places, a collection of poems and stories.
