1 Peter 4:10 “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
“The miracle wasn’t that a shepherd boy [David] was able to kill the giant. The miracle was that the shepherd boy who already had all the skills he would ever need in life trusted in the Living God.” Kathie Lee Gifford recalled those words from when she and her husband, the late, legendary Frank Gifford, toured the Valley of Elah in the Holy Land. Their guide encouraged them to take one of the stones as a symbol of the stone David used to kill the giant Goliath in the battle which had occurred there centuries before to remind them of the true miracle.
Kathie Lee said their encounter in the Valley of Elah gave her husband a completely new perspective. From then on, when people visited his trophy room, the first thing he showed them was not his numerous NFL trophies or broadcasting awards, but that simple stone from the Holy Land. The peace he emanated when he died reveals a man who learned to trust in God rather than in his many accomplishments. Football was more than Frank Gifford’s legacy. It was his stone. He used it to make the world better.
So how about you? What’s your stone? Are you throwing it for God?
We each have a unique mix of skill, opportunity and talent. A friend recently told me that because she’s a nurse, neighbors often come to her seeking medical advice. Her training opens doors for her to show them the love of God. Nursing is her stone. Another friend works in day care. She uses her natural compassion for children to help them see how Jesus loves little people. Child-care is her stone.
If you’re like me, your stone may seem more like a pebble than a rock. But even pebbles produce unimaginable ripples across a lake. Throw your stone—whether a pebble or a boulder— well and hard. Ask God to use it to impact the world in a way no one else can do. Trusting him to work in you and through you comprises as great a miracle as it was for David when he faced Goliath.
What we do with what we have far exceeds what we have…when we trust the Living God.
My “stone” is an adding machine. I use it to bring order and symmetry to my workplace’s financials. When “everything is done properly and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40) I bring God glory, even with a simple adding machine.
That’s great Cindy! I appreciate your comment. Encouraging to know that you know you are exactly where God wants you to be.
My joy in being a grandma is one of my stones. I can share God with a special little boy.
You are so right, Terry. And you are excellent at it!