"Did you know that Charlotte refused to join our choir?" Maya asked her friend Braelyn. The girls were talking about their youth group as they baked cookies at Maya's house. "Isn't that terrible?" said Maya as she rolled out a section of cookie dough. "We need all the kids."
Braelyn sighed. "I know. Kaori isn't joining either--she says she's not musical."
Maya shook her head. "It's too bad when people don't want to do things for the Lord." As she rummaged through a drawer, her mom came into the room. "Mom, did you move the cookie cutters?" Maya asked.
"No," said Mom. She found a cheese cutter and held it out. "Use this."
Absentmindedly, Maya took it and walked to the table. Then she looked down. "Mom! You can't cut out cookies with a cheese cutter!"
Mom acted surprised. "Well, here, then." She handed Braelyn a pair of scissors. "Or you could use Dad's razor."
As Braelyn held the scissors uncertainly, Maya frowned. "Mom, what are you talking about? You know we need the cookie cutters!"
Mom smiled. "I'm just trying to show you something. In a way, these tools all have the same job--they cut. And yet their jobs are all different. Each is a good tool for its own particular purpose." Mom handed the cookie cutters to Maya. "Christians are something like that. In a way we all have the same task--to share the love of Jesus and point others to Him. But that doesn't mean we all have to do exactly the same thing. Each of us can serve in a different way."
Maya bit her lip. "I guess you heard us talking, didn't you?"
Mom nodded. "Kaori's mom told me Kaori has a hearing problem. Because of that, she has trouble learning music. But I saw some posters she helped design for her mom's Bible study, and they were excellent! Maybe she'd like to help make posters for your choir concert. As for Charlotte, she seems to have a gift for making new kids feel welcome."
"So we all have different talents so we can do different things?" asked Braelyn.
Mom nodded. "So instead of criticizing, let's encourage everyone to serve Jesus in their own way."
-Hazel W. Marett
HOW ABOUT YOU?
Do you think everyone should serve Jesus the way you do? Remember that God has given different talents to different people. All Christians should serve the Lord, but they may not all do it your way. That’s okay! God has given each person their own gifts to use in serving Him and showing others His love. Let Him be the one to decide what each person should do.
TODAY'S KEY VERSE: Romans 12:6 (KJV)
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. (NLT)