Using what God has given you (The Drawing)

Using what God has given you (The Drawing)  Or. . . What is in your tool box?Many of you may not think that you can make a big impact in this world. You are poor, lack resources, or you feel you lack talent, or ability, or knowledge, but I am going to tell you that can make a huge impact and leave a lasting impression on this world. To do this I will show you how a little doodle or drawing I did made a difference.

My father had a very long battle with illness. In fact he was on oxygen for over 16 years. He was on Hospice care for more than three years and at the end never left bed or his room for the last 20 or more months of his life. One day while I was over at my parent’s house to help out I was passing time with my child. My daughter likes to draw and so do I, so we sat at the table together doodling. So as I sat there I drew this little rough drawing that said God So Loved The World. It was of course based on the Bible scripture from John 3:16.

As I was about done with the drawing my father called me into his room to ask me for a drink of water. I went in with the drawing in my hand. He said “what’s that in your hand?” I showed him the drawing and he said he liked it. I asked him if he wanted it and he said yes and told me to hang it on the wall where he could see it. Well this was real strange because my father was not a believer and really was turned off when I brought up Jesus. So I taped it to the wall so he could see it and then got him some water.

The next day I was over there again and out of my dad’s room I heard him say “What’s the rest of it?” I said “what is the rest of what?” And he said “what is the rest of the John 3:16 thing?” I was very surprised and went in and told him the whole scripture, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life.” My dad said, “That Son, is that Jesus?” I told him that is was indeed Jesus, and he said “Oh” and that was the end of it.
     The next day I was helping my mom change sheets on my dad’s bed and I told my dad that to fully understand a scripture you need to know the context of it in the bible. I said I know you read the bible when you were young, but do you know the context of that John 3:16 scripture? He said he didn’t and asked me to tell him about it. I just about fainted. So I told my dad about a guy named Nicodemus who was one of the Pharisees in Israel, a supposed learned man, who came and said he thought Jesus was a “teacher sent by God”. Jesus replied that unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said “How can a man be born when he is old?” Jesus replied and told him of how we are to be re-born in the spirit, and then said this “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son Of man be lifted up. That whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” and then Jesus said the John 3:16 scripture.
So I said to my dad, you see the people in the wilderness were being bitten by poisonous snakes and Moses was told to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. And whoever looked upon the serpent on the pole was healed from the poison of the snake. I said dad, what Jesus is saying that just like that serpent was lifted up on a pole that he would be lifted up on a pole (crucified) and looking upon it would heal us of the poison of sin that we received from that serpent in the Garden of Eden. My dad said he had never heard it put that way, and I said “well you have now”.
      So then I told my dad that the whole bible was about Jesus just like this serpent on the pole was. He said he did not see that the Old Testament was about Jesus. So I asked him if I could come over and read the bible with him to show him where Jesus was in the Old Testament, and he said he would like that. So the door was open and I was able to talk to my father about Jesus. Latter on as he was losing his ability to remember he would ask me if I knew about John 3:16, and he would tell me all about it.
    So here I was praying that I could share the Gospel message with my father and this little drawing I did opened the door, and in the end he shared it with me. I did not think that God would use that, but God takes what gifts, and talents, and unique properties, he has given us and can use them to change lives. You may not think that you can be an evangelist or that you have anything special but God made you and gave you just what is needed to reach the ones he has placed in your life to impact. Abraham and Sarah were unable to have children yet God made them the parents of a nation, Moses was slow of speech yet he was the mouthpiece of God, Gideon was a coward hiding in a wine press and he was raised up to be a courageous leader of a nation, and the apostles were a bunch of uneducated fishermen who were used to spread the message of Jesus and change the world.
In Col 3:17 it says we are to do ALL things in deed and word in the name of Jesus. 1Corinthians 10:31 says “whatever you do, do ALL for the glory of the Lord”. So whatever it is you do. A carpenter, teacher, janitor, artist, musician, car mechanic, clerk, accountant, athlete, or invalid, it can be put to use by God to make an impact on others. You never know what will impact others, but if you are not doing ALL things for Jesus then the everyday things you do will not have an impact. I could have drawn anything on that day but I chose to draw for Jesus. I chose to use that time and what little skill I had to glorify God. I had no intention, and no idea, that it could or would be used in the way it was. So today as you go about your day, in whatever you do, go about it with Jesus in mind. You may find that God places someone in your path that can be changed by just the thing you have in your tool box.

You were made for a unique purpose and the skills and talents, even lack of talent, ability and disability, and your personality, and you experiences, are a part of your special design. And these are the things God has placed in your individual tool box, so you can do His work. Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them”. You see we are not saved by our good works but instead are saved in order to do them. And when these works flow from your special design and calling then you have a great opportunity to impact the people you come in contact with. All work, no matter what it is, can be sacred and special if it is done as if you are doing it for God.

For more on this check out this teaching by Jesus on putting you talents to use, and a stern warning to those who don't.   Matthew 25:14-30