Earlier this year, the kids and I were studying Martin Luther. I knew all about the Ninety-Five Thesis… I knew about the Church at Wittenberg…I knew about the Reformation. What I had never thought about, though, was the means God used in all of that. It was ORDINARY! The church door was used as the “bulletin board” at the time, so Martin Luther’s act of nailing that document to the door was nothing special in and of itself. It was a COMMON way to spread information. That fact resonated with me greatly. I wondered then how many COMMON and ORDINARY ways God wanted to use me and my family—perhaps even to turn the world upside down like Martin Luther’s action did—if we were only willing to obediently do the COMMON and ORDINARY for His glory.
That wondering started a whole new train of thought for me. I started thinking about men and women throughout history through whom God worked with what He had already put “in their hands” either through natural talents, circumstances, or special relationships.
I cannot imagine that Joseph loved his life as he served in Potifer’s household, but he was faithful there! God used that time to equip him with management skills that he would later use by God’s Providence to help save millions of lives—including the nation of Israel—when famine came.
As a young man, Saul was taught the trade of tentmaking—a very highly skilled and highly in demand occupation in the first century AD. His being taught that trade was normal—young men were generally taught a trade by their fathers. But how could he have ever guessed that it was that skill that God would use many years and a new name (Paul the Apostle) later to facilitate the spread of the gospel to the ends of the known world and to fan the flames of Christianity as it grew? It was so common, yet in God’s hands so strategic.
In our own lives, David and I are starting to see how God has been equipping us for the mission He has entrusted to us. It’s amazing to stand here and look back over the years to see the skills, talents, experiences and relationships God has put into our hands that are now being used as we produce Teach Them Diligently Conventions and through the mission agency that David manages. It is our prayer that in His hands, our work will be used to strengthen and encourage families and to further the spread of the gospel through the strategic use of business as missions.
So, what has God put in your hands? What special skills, talents, relationships, and experiences (both pleasant and painful) could He use if you only opened your hands and allowed Him to? Are you willing to allow Him to use those things? Will you or your children be the next Martin Luther, who in the course of doing the ordinary will be used to Make A Huge Difference in the world for God?
Oh, can you only imagine what God could do if we all were willing to do what He has been equipping us to do all our lives?!? What a difference we could make!
