I love a good junk store. Now, there’s a difference between a junk store and a good junk store. A junk store has discarded items with defects and major flaws; but a good junk store has hidden treasures. Sometimes digging through bins and piles has to happen, but once that special gem is located, all the searching is worth it.

            Someone somewhere created that special object. Whether a stool, bookshelf, mug, jacket, plate or scarf, someone with creative ability made that special something. I’m reminded of the artisans God called to build, form, and decorate the tabernacle in Exodus. The Lord specially gave these craftsmen wisdom and understanding so they could use their gifts for his glory. Spinners, carpenters, weavers, engravers, metal workers, and tanners. All gifts used for the betterment of life now being offered for the glory of God’s kingdom.

            Then there’s Asaph and his many relatives. They were designated to play cymbals, lyres, trumpets, harps, and to offer vocal accompaniment for the honor and glory of God. They were skilled in these things and God wanted them to use the gift he’d planted inside them for his purposes.

But what about the craftsmen, artisans, musicians, and creatives who didn’t offer their gifts? What about the carpenter who builds wooden trinkets and sells them on the street? Or the metal worker who forges statues to be sold in seductive shops? And what about all the everyday necessities that someone has to build or create?                       

Here’s what I know. At the end of the day, I want to end up in the good junk shop. I want the efforts I exert to be worthwhile, focused, and done to honor God. Whether I’m writing, organizing, coordinating, or creating I want to first ask God what he’d like to do with me. That might mean teaching a class or it might mean balancing the checkbook. It might mean organizing an event or parking an elderly person’s shopping cart.

God just wants us. He wants us to offer our gifts, talents, abilities and everyday stuff to him. Then he will take it and use it for his glory. We are fashioned for more than mediocre. More than just getting by. He fashioned us for greater purposes than we can fathom. Are we wasting those efforts? Or are we living like we are fashioned for more?