As many of you know…and others should be able to figure out…I recently moved. This was no easy task. In fact it was rather difficult. But my family had some great help on both ends of the journey and we could not have done ANY of it by ourselves. Well – maybe – except that we would still be in the process more than we already are because you can put a lot of items into a house. While packing the stuff just kept appearing out of closets, cupboards, and who knows where.
Some things were hard to pack like the drum set for my WII Rock Band Game and other things were easy. Probably the easiest thing to pack was my tool chest. It was my grandfathers and it is mostly loaded with tools from him and my other grandpa.
Both men were “tinkerers” of sorts. One repaired televisions and organized every screw he ever came across into little glass baby food jars. He would mount the lids in such a fashion so that you could screw and unscrew the glass jar from a shelf above his workbench in order to access the contents. Really kinda cool! The other was a mechanic. Technically, he worked for the railroad and was a consultant in overhauling diesel engines. He could bring any engine back to life…no matter if it was a lawnmower, a Corvair that had been sitting in a shed for 40 years, or a huge ocean going container ship.
I have great memories of th0se guys…and when I open my tool chest…it is their hands I see…
But as I mentioned, that tool chest was easy to pack. Close the lid – lock the drawers – and wheel it outside. Unloading was just as easy! And I am glad it was. Because I needed stuff out of it. We needed to unpack boxes and put together beds and hang pictures and….well, you get the point. And the tools I needed were in that chest.
There are a lot of tools in there, which allow me to do a lot of things. There are your standard screw drivers, wrenches, and pliers – but there are also tools that are highly specific and do just one thing. Like the tool that pulls the wheel bearing out of the axel on your car….yeah…I have one of those. Doesn’t do me any good because I never paid attention when my dad and grandpa showed me how to use it. But I have one!
So the other night I sat putting together a bed and I was thinking about the tool I was using and then thinking about all the people that were helping us unpack. People from the church. Each one different. Each one with a different talent. Each one designed to do just the right thing. Paul wrote about this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (NLT)
12 The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles,* some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.* 14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? 18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 21 The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” 22 In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. 23 And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24 while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25 This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
Yep – the moral of this whole post is that we all have a job to do. We have all been designed by God to do something for the Kingdom! What did he design you to do?
Until Next Time…
Pastor Barry
Pastor Barry's Blog 