Common Sense Commentary: Yes, it is true in every "real" Church among "real" Christians, that our Lord uses those who make themselves "available" more than He does those who have great "ability" .... but are not "avail able". "Avail" means "Usable"; and "ability" means "capable". Though Christians may have "ability", if it is not "available", they are "unusable" to God. Let's say that Availability ranges from Level One to Level Ten.
Level One is the small child who puts on her own clothes, and then puts them away and always wants to help Mommy, and does her assigned tasks faithfully. She is Mom's little helper. Or, maybe it is a handicapped little boy who smiles all the time, cleans up after himself, gladly does what Mom says and wants to "help Dad work".
Level Two is the mentally handicapped young man who loads my wife's groceries, at Kroger's, and unloads them into her car....talking all the way and saying exactly the same things every week. He has been on that job for years, never misses, and is always happy and friendly to everyone. His job is extremely important to him. He is "available and useable". Mrs Blair just loves him and admires Kroger's for hiring dependable, handicapped people. She expresses it to me almost every time she shops there. He always brightens her day. Level Two would also include older children and I am sure other examples as well.
Then, there are the millions of healthy, intelligent, capable, and able, Christians in Levels 3 through 8. These are people from teenage through middleage. There are vast numbers of them. They are those Christians who have huge ability and still have energy and health. Their only hindrance...or "handicap", for most of them, in being "useful" to God, is their unavailability. They have no time, too tired after work, play golf or fish on Saturday and need to rest up for work on Sunday. Tons of "ability" but not much "availability". God always uses "availability" but not necessairly "ability". Be careful about judging older people concerning their level of involvment in Church. There are a multitude of totally unseen, physical ailments and difficulties that no one knows about but themselves, and they are not telling. They, not we, are their own Stewards of their bodies, talents, time, and ailments too. I am eighty and have learned a lot about old age since I was seventy. Your turn is coming.
Levels Nine and Ten are the elderly or those with cronic, difficult, physical problems or "invalid". This word means "not valid or null and void". "Valid" means "strong, capable, efficient". I don't like Webster's definition, "not valid or null and void". No one is "not valid" and certainly not "null and void". The fact is, anyone, who still has mental capacity, can be a blessing and can make themselves available to God if it is only a smile, a kind word or a prayer. God never expects anyone to do what they cannot possibly do, but He absolutely expects us to do all we are "able" and have the "ability" to do. Nothing more but nothing less either. My elderly Great Grandmother prayed for me when I was about five years old and changed my entire life. That one prayer added more to my life than almost anything anyone else ever did. She didn't have much ability left in her old age, but what she had, she gave to God. Sitting in a rocking chair, she prayed for me. Dear Grandparents, do not underestimate the importance of praying for your grandchildren.
I think of the poor widow, who had only a handful of meal and a few drops of oil left for her son and herself before they starved to death, during a famine. She had almost no ability at all left in life....but she was "available" to be useful to God. He had told her about the prophet Elijah's need before He told Elijah to go to her house. She yielded her availability to God and gave her last corn muffin to God's prophet and was prepared to die with her son. Of course, God did not leave her out on that slim limb but provided for her and her son throughout the famine. God was available to her because she was available to Him. If she had not yielded to God's will,she would almost certainly have starved. Many widows did. 1Kings17:8-16.
Another poor, old widow gave her very last two mites (2 cents) to God's Temple offering before she too, would starve. God didn't need her two mites but no doubt had plans to help her in her need. SHE needed to give her last two coins to that offering. Jesus said, she had "cast in all her living", which means her life, and I am certain that Jesus did not walk away from her without doing something wonderful for her, though it is not recorded. You wouldn't ignore her and God certainly didn't. Hundreds of millions of Christians have been blessed and motivated by her story in Mk.12:41-44.
Even little children can be used of God, and often are, in a thousand different ways. Remember the little boy who seems to have gone on an errand for his mom to get five small loaves of bread and two "small fishes" but stopped to listen to Jesus, probably on the way home. This boy had very little "ability" but some very brave "availability" and Jesus accepted it and fed five thousand tired, hungry followers with the boy's availability. The account of this miracle in John 6:5-13, does not record what Jesus did for the boy but, again,I am as certain as if it had been recorded, that Jesus sent him home with more bread than he gave, to take to mom. They had 12 baskets full left over and picked up every scrap even though Jesus had the power to miraculously perform a similar miracle everyday. The lesson of the left over bread is that Jesus did not believe in any measure of waste. Good Stewardship demands similar frugality of all of God's people. Do not waste any amount of your substance if it has any value at all. God put you in charge of what you have. Invest every mite, every penny wisely..... It belongs to Him. We are only managers of it. Whatever our abilities, let us be available when God speaks to our hearts. When the Lord said, "Whom shall I send and who will go for us...", Isaiah answered, "Here am I; send me". Isaiah6:8
Pass It On. RB
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