Junk Drawers and Old Tools

Junk drawers. 

You know the ones I mean. You probably have one at least yourself. Everyone I know has at least one and everyone I've asked has admitted to it. 

I actually have two just in my kitchen alone. In them you’ll find replacement appliance bulbs, wrenches, twist ties, chip clips, magnets, a role of tape, matches, scissors, coupons, pens, loose buttons, pencils, paper clips, keys that are most likely useless, rubber bands, pliers, dishwashing pads, an assortment of screwdrivers, solder, batteries, zip ties, candles, jar-grip pads, and still even more stuff than I will bother to list. It ends up being a haphazard mess of odds and ends that should have other homes but have somehow migrated to the junk drawer.  They mostly sit there, forgotten, until a need for one of those items comes up and sparks a memory.

Random tools seem to be common homes for junk drawers. Over the years, at one time or another, my junk drawers were home to a variety of old tools.

I still have a particular, old, flat-tipped screwdriver. Its handle is wooden and is worn and dinged; the metal shaft is tarnished; and the tip is worn, and it has a small chipped corner missing from its tip.  I don't even know where this tool came from.  It has just been around "forever".  It probably should have been thrown away long ago, but I don’t toss it into the trash when I come across it even though I have a number of screwdriver sets in various toolboxes.  It still turns a screw well if you hold it in the slot adjusting for the broken corner.  Even though it isn’t in mint condition, it still serves its purpose for which it was created.

I also have a few loose combination wrenches.  They are from different manufacturers of sets that have long-past been scattered and mostly lost.  They are far from the sparkling condition they arrived in.  Their coatings are flaked, pocked with rust, and scratched, but they are of common enough sizes to still be useful for their purpose.  Like the screwdriver above, I have a number of combination wrench sets in various toolboxes but I still keep these handy.

Once upon a time, I had an old claw-hammer that had either been my father's or my grandfather's. It was the type of hammer that the metal head is fitted over a wooden handle and the tip of the handle was exposed. The head was held in place by a small metal wedge pushed into the tip of the handle. This caused pressure of the expanded wooden handle against the inside of the head to hold it in place.  There was nothing shiny about the metal head.  It was dulled, rusted, and rust pocked.  The wooden handle was worn, chipped, split, and dulled with age and grime.  It remained in service many years, but it was eventually retired (thrown away) when the head simply wouldn't stay wedged in place and became a danger by flying off on its back-swings.

Recently I’ve begun to see myself, and other Christians, very much like those old tools - spiritually speaking. 

We are implements created by God and for God.  As such we have been created for His use.  

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

(Ephesians 2:10)

We're not new, we're not shiny, and we're not perfect. We've all been dinged, broken, worn, and dirtied in life in one manner or another.

As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one.....All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one....for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

(Romans 3:10, 12, 23)  

Our sinfulness corrupts us which separates us from God so that as implements, we deserve to be thrown away.  But when we surrender to Him and trust in the salvific work of Jesus to reconcile us to God, we are valued and loved and used for His intention.  He uses us, imperfections and all, for His purposes until the day comes that He will fully restore us and make us completely flawless. 

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)

 

But it isn't about measuring of our condition.  It is about Him using us for His will and for His glory.

But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 

(Philippians 3:7)

Each tool, like the three I mentioned above, are designed and created to fulfill a specific purpose.  A screwdriver applies just enough needed pressure to tighten or loosen a screw with very little surface contact and comparatively light pressure.  A wrench applies more pressure across more surface to tighten or loosen a nut or bolt.  A hammer applies a heavier force as it strikes or pulls, and it may cover a small surface like the head of a nail or a surface face larger than itself.  

We are similarly used when in God's hands.  From the moment He first thought of us in creation, He had specific purposes in mind for us to be used by Him.  Depending on His purpose, He may use us in smaller ways in situations that require less effort from us, or He may use us in situations that demand more from us personally and requires more force which impacts both ourselves as well as those who we are dealing with.

As I continue to make myself available to Him, He provides more courage and willingness to serve Him.  With each experience He leads me into, I excitedly wait to see how He will use this poor implement with increasing frequency as He builds His kingdom.

If you've read my story (the posts can be found in the Articles section), you can see where I had come from being a introverted recluse to being active in a ministry focused on Rwandan children and going to Rwanda to be involved locally.  Being used by God in this way was never in my mind or even in my interests. But within just one year it had become a priority for me as God laid out a series of events that led me into it.  If He can change me and use me in such a way, without a shadow of doubt you too can certainly be used in His plans and for His glory in ways you'd never expect.

How are you allowing yourself to become an implement for His purpose and His glory?


----
----