I went in to the bathroom the other day and saw something on the counter that really disturbed me, so much so that I just had to ask my wife about it.
“Honey, I know I don’t know much about make up or beauty products, but I can’t imagine what a woman as pretty as you are needs with a steak knife as part of your equipment.”
Happily, there was a logical explanation. The shampoo bottle had a little sticker over the mouth that she couldn’t get open with just her fingernails, and her normal opener (me) was unavailable. At least, that’s HER story, and of course I believe her. But I’m watching my step, and if it shows up in the bedroom, I’m sleeping on the couch!
You know the saying, “The right tool for the job”? I carry a Swiss Army knife most of the time, so I’ve usually got a tool I can use, at least for small jobs, and I know that in pinch, “Any tool can be the right tool”, but mostly you’re better off with the tool that was meant for the job, and there are quite a few jobs that would ruin the wrong tool.
That’s why you have people with different skills and inclinations in the church. We are tools in God’s hands, crafted for a purpose and intended for use. I know that some people have their tools carefully placed on a pegboard in their garage and even outlined so they have a visual cue about which tool goes where - although I think that’s more about decoration than anything else. Wouldn’t surprise me if those tools are as fresh as the day they were purchased, never moved once placed, with the working tools kept in a box in the work area. But God doesn’t do “decorator tools”. He always has purpose for the tools He chooses - even you.
For some reason, people want to act like decorator tools, potentially useful but very surprised if they’re pulled off the shelf. But if each of us is available to God, then things that are either being done poorly or not done at all will instead be done well. Another good old saying: “Many hands make light work.” By uniting our efforts, we share the burdens, making them lighter and we share the joys, making them sweeter by the sharing. Be the right tool in God’s hand, and be worthy of that highest of blessings: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
And let’s keep the steak knives OUT of the bathroom!
