When considering the impact it has on the rest of mankind, the church can be seen as a collection of tools – a toolbox of sorts. As with any toolbox, there are tools within the church which sometimes seem to the untrained eye to be more prominent or of more importance than others. Just as the claw hammer and phillips-head screwdriver are two of the more frequently-used tools in a tool chest, the pastor is usually the one most identified with the church. But deeper in that toolbox – and deeper in the church – lie a lot of other tools which when called upon, can be of even greater importance in the right circumstances than those more familiar tools.
For example, a hammer is a very important tool to have around when installing molding or trim in a corner. But if a hammer is the only tool used for this job, the result will be a bunch of unsightly little hammerhead-shaped divots on the trim. To avoid those little divots, a tool known as a nail driver is used. A nail driver is very simple little tool, much smaller and less imposing than a hammer. This tool looks kind of a like a nail. It has a head on one end and tapers to a small flat on the other end – almost to a point. It’s used to finish driving nails into trim. The nail is started by using just the hammer, and once it’s driven almost flush, the point of the nail driver is placed over the nail head. The hammer is then used to strike the head of the driver so that the nail is then driven on into the trim. The end result – in the hands of a good craftsman – is a flush nail with no divots around its head.
The same is true in the church. People serving in more high-profile positions are more likely to be recognized for their efforts. But just as a good craftsman has a wide variety of both general and specialized tools to choose from, God’s toolbox – the local church – holds Kingdom tools with a vast array of gifts and talents, each one useful in its own right. And just as a good craftsman wants a quality nail driver in his toolbox, God wants to use people with all sorts of specialized qualities as well.
©2023 A Reasoning Faith
