Many people spend their Christian lives longing to be used by God, whether in great ways or small. We listen to sermons about the heroes of faith and feel disheartened and inadequate because we can never measure up. We focus on our weaknesses, and how our disabilities, limitations, illnesses, or just the general busyness of life seem to hinder our productivity.
This book challenges the language of usefulness. Liz reminds us that God did not invite us into his Kingdom because of what we can do, but because he wants us to enjoy a satisfying and fulfilling relationship through Jesus. He doesn’t love us more if we labour in his name every day, or less if we cannot. He loves us simply because we are his precious children, and he is our Saviour.
Liz weaves together a mixture of stories, Biblical examples, and teaching points to convince her readers that God values us because we are exactly who he made us to bee. I loved her references to women like Mary and Rahab, showing how God valued them before they did a single thing to make them worthy of receiving his love.
This book opened my eyes and taught me to re-think the way I talk to others about their acts of Christian service. It also freed me from pressure during a time when my own circumstances have reduced my energy. None of us want to be used by others, so why do we use words like this in relation to our heavenly Father? It is freeing to see ourselves instead as partnering with him in the work of spreading the Gospel.
Valuable is ideal for group study, as it has questions for reflection at the end of each chapter, and a brilliant study guide at the back to help us reflect further on what we have learned. This is a timely message, so thanks, Liz, for your obedience to the Holy Spirit and your courage to write.
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