This is the explanation: God has made us what we are. God has created us in King Jesus for the good works that he prepared, ahead of time, as the road we must travel. [Ephesians 2:10 (NTE)]
Last summer, we moved permanently to our home in Florida. Knowing we’d no longer be spending any time in the cold winters of the Midwest, I packed up our winter attire for the charity resale shop. Along with the many coats, scarves, hats, and boots, I had a pile of winter mittens and gloves. Along with our super warm double ragg mittens, my husband and I had an assortment of wool, fleece, and leather gloves. He had a pair of heavy duty insulated Carhartts and I had some polyester/spandex gloves I often wore while walking. While packing up the rest of the house, I came across work gloves in the furnace room, rubber gloves by the wash tub, gardening gloves in the garage, silicone heat resistant gloves by the grill, fingerless gloves in the gym bag, vinyl gloves in the first aid kit, a pair of oven mitts, and even some chemically treated silver polishing gloves! Each pair had a specific use but, without a hand inside any of them, they were nothing but empty shells.
Thinking about our mittens and gloves, I remembered the words a pastor said many years ago: “Let the hand of God slip into the glove of your life.” When God slipped His hand into Gideon’s life, the fearful man became a warrior. When He slipped His hand in David’s life, the shepherd boy became a giant killer and king. By slipping His hand into Mary’s life, a peasant girl became mother to the Messiah and, when His hand slipped into Peter’s life, a fisherman became a Rock. When God slipped His hand into the glove of Saul’s life, the persecutor of Christians became the builder of Christ’s church.
Those gloves are nothing more than pieces of fabric and leather until they are filled by a hand and put to use. Like a glove without a hand, we are but empty vessels until God’s Holy Spirit fills us. Each glove is designed for a specific function and so are we; each of us has been God-designed for a specific reason. When we let God fill the gloves of our lives, we become His hands and can do the work for which He specially made us. When God fills the voids in our lives, we truly come alive and gain both a sense of purpose and the power to achieve it.
Father Almighty, fill us with your Holy Spirit. Give us loving obedient hearts and servants’ hands so that we joyfully do your holy work.
May not a single moment of my life be spent outside the light, love and joy of God’s presence and not a moment without the entire surrender of myself as a vessel for Him to fill full of His Spirit and His love. [Andrew Murray]
Devotions of the Heart 