Broken Tools
During a recent devotion we talked about tools, and how God uses us to fulfill different purposes in His kingdom. A few months prior I had bought a house out in the country with a big yard that had not been properly taken care of by the previous owner. The bushes, weeds, and trees had grown up and had not been pruned causing me to spend much of my free time hacking, clipping, cutting and sawing away at the foliage, and then disposing of it all. My body was continually decorated with cuts, scrapes and bruises from trying to clean up the mess, and I believe I took more aspirin in thosemonths of work than I had taken most of my life put together. I became up-close and personal with my tool shed and all the host of tools therein.
As we were talking during our devotion, I was thinking of these tools and my life. For most of my adult years I had been extremely active in the church and had been a part of nearly every type of ministry there was. My boys grew up being my helpers, sleeping under pews and hearing bible studies over and over that they had already heard me teach. I recognized needs in the churches I had been a part of and tried to fulfill what I could, just like I had seen the need to clean up my yard and get rid of the debris that took away from the beauty that I knew existed under it. There was nothing wrong with using my energy to meet needs, except that I was trying to be all tools to all needs, which made me become more like a worn out Swiss Army knife than a specialized tool. Often I’d find myself chipped, worn-down, and sometimes broken and hence… not as useable as I should have been.
God did not call any of us to be all things to all people. I believe that it is more pleasing to Him that we become deep and skilled in our areas of ministry instead of spread thin and shallow where we are less effective. We are tools in His hands and just like a shovel from my shed cannot do the work of a hammer effectively, we cannot do all the works that God has need of in His kingdom effectively. We are one body, each being a part – a tool – that works together for one purpose. When we try to be something God did not design us to be we end up being frustrated and weary, seeing little progress which can lead to bitterness or losing our faith in God.
During a recent part of my life I stopped working in all the ministries that I was involved in because I had become so weary, worn and broken that I could no longer function properly. It was no longer just a matter of being re-sharpened; I had to be remade. After a long period of recovery and being remade, I became involved in a ministry again, but only one – Kids Prayer training. I made myself a promise that I would become deep and skilled in one thing instead of all the things I seen that needed help around me. That meant that I had to trust God that He would take care of the other needs and raise up others to help in those areas, if they truly were His will and His needs to begin with.
I am no longer a Swiss Army knife; I am one tool doing one thing well that will bring more glory to God than fumbling attempts of being a whole shed of tools that do not work effectively. I am now at peace. I am now able to focus. I am now able to hear God where before all I could hear was the groaning of my own voice under the weight of all the work I was trying to carry. I am now able to bring God glory instead of only desperate prayers for strength to just make it another day.
Lord, you created us with a plan and purpose for our lives. Often we allow our plans and desires to become more important than Yours, and we make decisions in our life without consulting You and in the end we end up broken and burnt out. Help me to follow your plan for my life. Help me to not compare myself and my ministry to others. Help me to be content with doing what You want me to do, no matter how big or how little or how others see its significance. I submit my will to Yours. Help me to do well what You’ve created me to do so I can bring You glory. If I am ever involved in works that You would like for me to forgo, then place that in my heart and help my desires to be the same desires You have for my life so I will work in Your will, and be effective. I want to be the tool You designed me to be.
Colleen Clabaugh
Discussion
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