A carpenter would never complain about hammer because it wouldn’t cut wood. A cook would not throw away a wooden spoon because they can’t boil an egg in it.

These may seem like pointless observations, but consider how we often diminish our value because we can’t do what some others can.

Hammers and wooden spoons have specific purposes. So do you. Do you know what you’ve been designed and gifted to do?

You will find several gifts of a spiritual nature identified in the Bible (see Romans 12:3-8 for example).

There’s hospitality, knowledge, wisdom, leadership, exhortation, mercy, giving, service, evangelism, faith, administration, teaching, discernment, encouragement and others. You have one or more of these and may not even know it. In fact you are probably using your gift and not even realizing it is a gift because it does not occur to you that what you do is anything special. It may come so easy and naturally that it you not only do it with little effort, but you also enjoy it, kinda like you would a gift.

Carpenters and cooks know that you need a lot more than just a hammer or a wooden spoon to get the job done. That’s why they have multiple tools that are different from one another. That’s the church. If we were all the same, we would have a hard time working together. It’s the differences in our gifts and abilities that enable us to work in harmony like an orchestra.

So never discount your gifts or your purpose in the kingdom. Instead, glorify God with them!

As Jesus’ apostle wrote many years ago:

“As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to who belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
- 1st Peter 4:10-11