"If you can't be about someone, then you don't care about them."

I read a quote this week that said “If someone can’t be about you, they don’t care about you”. My first reaction was to mutter “Well, that’s awfully demanding of you…” with raised eyebrows. And then I quickly realized that nothing could be more accurate.

This subject is one that has followed me around for what seems like months now. It’s cropped up in sermons, articles I’ve read and even a few seemingly unrelated youtube videos recently. “What and who am I about?” can be an intimidating question, especially when you know the answer isn’t what it should be. And I, to my shame, have found myself to be very wanting in regards to this question.

I believe that while incredibly useful in other areas of our lives, our abilities and talents are God-given to us for one purpose. And the purpose is to fulfill the role that we were created for. I remember causing a few laughs once when I used a metal pipe to hammer a wood screw into a wall so that I could hang a clock up (I didn’t have anything else. Cut me some slack, man). It was so laughable because there are tools specifically made for exactly what I was doing, but I wasn’t using them. It worked (sorta), but the pipe made a poor hammer the the screw a poor nail. The pipe was perfectly suited to be a pipe. And the screw was an exemplary screw, if you ask me. But in that moment, neither were fulfilling the role for which they were created.

Now, I know that’s a strange way to make this point, but doesn’t the same principle apply to us and our personal ministries? I know that I neglect the work that I was created for for a variety of reasons. I’m too busy. I’m too tired. Or my all-time favorite “I’m not good enough”. You know, it occurred to me that a hammer doesn’t worry about hammering. The hand that wields the hammer is the one who does the hammering. The hammer is what it is and it’s going to be the best at what it does because it was made to do exactly that. Why do we think we’re different?

As with a lot of the the things I write, I’m primarily preaching to myself. But I think it can apply to everyone and their walk. We each have a function to perform in the body. And being ready and willing is enough. Let’s not be more ambitious for “our” work than we are for His.

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” - 1 Corinthians 15:58