There was a work bee this morning, out at the barn where my boys and I ride. The
place was literally "buzzing" as chain saws cut fence posts to length, skill
saws sliced through boards for new stall doors, hammers pounded 4 inch nails
into jump standards, and the tractor carried junk to the back of the property.
I was pulling rubber mats out of the barn laneway and piecing them together in
front of the barn door when it occurred to me that I had a rather insignificant
job. But then, so did everyone there. Everybody's job seemed kind of
insignificant in the grand schema of all that needed to be done!
By the end of the morning however, the barn was clean and child-safe, the riding
rinks were enclosed, and the entire farm literally sparkled. A job well done,
and all because each of the busy workers did one to two seemingly insignificant
jobs!
But then, we had worked together, hadn't we? Each of us had taken the specific
instruction from our "supervisor", the owner of the barn. She had assigned those
to the chain saw who had chain saw experience, and those who knew how to build,
she had put on the new stall doors. People like me, who have no specific
building skills, had been given the scrubbing and cleaning jobs, and we had all
worked together, in harmony.
Perhaps this was the secret to making all of those insignificant jobs come
together into a beautiful picture!
Is this what Jesus meant when He prayed for unity among His children? "I have
given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in
them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know
that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." (John 17:22-23
NIV)
And is this what Paul meant when he spoke of unity in the church? "The body is a
unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many,
they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit
into one body…Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot
should say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' it would not
for that reason cease to be part of the body…it would not for that reason cease
to be part of the body…But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every
one of them, just as he wanted them to be…As it is, there are many parts, but
one body." (1 Cor 12:12-20 NIV)
Have you ever felt that what you've been given to do for the Lord is kind of
insignificant? There are those lucky few who have been given the glorious job,
like, say, going on a missions trip to Africa. You can't go. You can't get the
time off work! So you get left behind.
In this situation you have a choice to make. Either you can stay behind and
sulk, cursing your boss and those planning the missions trip because they didn't
plan it at a time of year when you could have gotten off work. Or you can look
around and see what else you could do for the Lord! Perhaps He is calling you to
help out in the Children's programs, or maybe the worship team needs a new
keyboardist!
Whatever it is, friends, when we all work together in unity, doing what the Lord
has called us to do, the work will get down, and the end product will be
beautiful.
There were many others who had been asked to come to the work bee this morning,
but only 20 or so actually came. Imagine how much more we could have
accomplished if everyone would have shown up?
And imagine how much faster God's work would go forward if each and every
Christian in the world today was willing to humbly submit to the task God has
tailor-made for each of us?
Friends, I'd like to participate in God's work bee. Will you join me?
Lyn Chaffart
, Speech-Language Pathologist, mother of two teens, Author and Moderator
for The Nugget, and the Scriptural Nuggets website,
www.scripturalnuggets.org
, with Answers2Prayer ministries,
www.answers2prayer.org
.
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
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The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.