Monday, May 25, 2020

A World Full of Raw Materials

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I’m Doug Apple...and my heart is on fire!  (Luke 24:32)

God hides things.

Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing...”

When God created the world He concealed literally tons of things.

Picture Adam and Eve in the garden.  And even if you don’t believe in the garden, we all agree that when you go back just a few thousand years the world was a pretty primitive place.  It was beautiful but rough, and you certainly wouldn’t have looked around and even fathomed all the discoveries that were yet to come.

At that time the world was packed full of raw materials, but they were hidden.  We didn’t know about electricity, for example.  We didn’t even know about metal.  We didn’t know about seeds.  I mean, if nobody told you, you’d probably eat an apple and think, “What are these stupid black things in the middle?”  So you’d throw them out in the dirt, and one day you’d see a plant growing where you tossed the seeds, but you didn’t know, so you were like, “Pull that stupid weed.  We don’t need weeds around here.  We’re hungry.”

We didn’t know it at first, but seeds are some of the mightiest raw materials in the world!  But were they obvious?  No.  They were hidden.

Now think of all the things under ground:  silver, gold, coal, oil, but Adam and Eve didn’t see a single one of them.  The world was full of raw materials, but they were hidden.

God hides things.

And the same is true when it comes to people.  God has packed each one of us with raw materials, but they are hidden and need to be discovered!

I was watching my twin grandchildren when they were quite young.  They both had pulled the straw out of their little cups and I said, “Put it back in.”  They were probably too little to do this, and my granddaughter did what was natural.  She tried and tried but didn’t yet have the ability to do it.  But my grandson surprised me when he put the straw straight into the hole.  I thought, “Hmm, that was interesting.”

And since then I’ve noticed that he has a great eye for mechanics and the size and shape of things and how they work.  Meanwhile, his twin sister is already reading like a much older child and is very good with words and speaking.

These are raw materials.  We didn’t know they were there, but we are discovering them.

Every one of us, every single human, including you, is full of raw materials.  Your creator, God the Father, put them in you, and they just need to be discovered.

And they are so different.  Look at this planet and there are tons of raw materials and they are so wildly and wonderfully different.  

And the raw materials that God has put inside you are different.  Maybe you want to be more like other people, but your skill set is different.  Your giftings are different.  And God’s calling on your life is different.  

First Corinthians 12:11 tells us that God distributes gifts to each person according to His will. 

God has plans for you!  And He has given you the giftings that line up with His plans.

Every person has gifts.  Every person is packed with raw materials, and it is our job to discover them and maximize them.  We are to discover our own, and we are to help other people discover theirs.

THEN the body of Christ will be humming along on all cylinders.  THEN the church will be living up to her potential...once we realize that every single person is packed with raw materials from God and it is our job to discover them and help them grow.

May God bless you today.

I’m Doug Apple.

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