Several years ago,
an Australian comedy came out about a bushmen who
receives an unexpected gift from the gods.
The movie’s name was “The Gods Must Be
Crazy. In this comedy, a bushman is walking along, minding his own
business when a pilot, seated in his bi-plane, flies
overhead, polishing off his last drop of soda from a
glass bottle. Thoughtlessly,
he throws his empty soda bottle out of the window and
continues his flight.
The bushmen looks up startled, to see an
odd, shiny looking object fall from the heavens,
beating its whistling sound in the wind as it falls to
the earth to announce its arrival.
He walks over to the bottle, picks it up and
examines it and determines that the gods must have
sent this item to him.
Now its up to him to figure out what it is for.
For the rest of the movie we watch the hysterical antics of
the bushmen as he agonizes over what to do with his
‘gift from the gods.’
At different points he decides the bottle must
be a musical instrument because it whistled on the way
to earth…..but then, it only played one note!
No, wait, it must be for food – or perhaps it
is a weapon … over and over he decides a new
function for his gift, never fully understanding the
true purpose of the glass bottle.
Whether it is in our own lives or the
lives of those that God brings to us, we are attracted
to the ‘whistle’ our gift makes to announce its
arrival. Peter
heard that whistling sound in his own heart when,
early in the mornings he arose before dawn to prepare
his nets for a days worth of fishing, and dreamed of
the great catches he would surely obtain out upon the
rolling waves of water in his hand fashioned boat.
His gift was fishing, his passion was pulling
them in.
Jesus heard the whistling of a gift when
Zacchaeus the chief tax collector climbed up the
sycamore tree in order to see Jesus.
Jesus called to him to come down out of his
tree because He needed to eat at Zacch’s house.
Both gifts, on the outside made odd
whistling noises that some might not have recognized,
but Jesus did. Jesus
recognized the gift in Peter to gather in life,
unconcerned with the obstacles and weather before him.
He saw the gift in Zacchaeus as he sat in his
tree, craning his neck to sum up this man who called
himself Jesus, gathering all the facts of every step
that Jesus took.
On the surface, Peter was just a
smelly fisherman.
On the surface, Zacchaeus was just a mean ole,
picky tax gatherer.
Jesus saw a fisher of men in Peter, and in
Zacchaeus, he saw provision.
The whistling of the gift that stirred my
heart throughout my life was manifested in coloring
books and drawing mermaids and unicorns on my science
tests. I
was disappointed that God had given me such a useless
gift. Other
kids in class shot up in their grades as they
memorized and understood their Math, English and
History, and became Honor roll students, class
presidents and Prom Kings and Queens.
Me? I
was just the “bubble-brain” in the back of class
with her “head in the clouds” with that dreamy
stare reflected in her eyes.
Useless gift.
Useless dreams.
Useless, annoying whistling calling to me from
the depths of my heart.
Another friend I have known had the
excellent grades and honor-roll awards.
She thought herself boring and dull because of
all the facts that crowded her head. She did not attract friends because of the serious
countenance on her face and she wished with all her
heart that she could be like that “bubble-brain”
in the back of the class with the dreamy smile on her
face. That
one didn’t seem to have a care in the world and
talked to people easily and laughed often. She saw her gift as frivolous and useless, just another
annoying whistling calling to her from deep inside.
Yet another friend told me of her
frustrated desire to be in ministry and speak to women
about the wonders of Christ and His promise of life
for them. She
agonized because she was stuck in a small town where
no one would ever ‘discover’ her and where she
would never have the finances to go anywhere else but
the local feed store.
Yet, amazingly enough, women always found their
way to her door and sat at her table to taste her
delicious brownies and partake of her amazing gift of
hospitality. She
thought her gift useless, but God brought the women to
her – for a one on one, individualized and
customized touch from this glowing vessel of love.
I never saw it before – but now I
do. This particular ‘bubble-brain’ (speaking of myself)
needed the personalized touch of a woman with a gift
of hospitality to touch her life and tell her she had
value. The
very value that was stripped away because people did
not understand or recognize the gift that was placed
among them. She
told me that I had worth.
She accepted me like I was – scratch marks,
pock marks and all.
I desperately needed her gift!
I need the gift of the young lady who was
on the honor roll too.
Being a dreamer, ideas, inspirations and witty
inventions bombard my mind constantly.
Without the gifts of those who possess skills
to organize, problem solve and discern details, I’d
flounder forever in frustration.
She needs my gift too!
Otherwise, her world would forever be a world
of legalisms, rules and problems.
With my gift in her presence, she can see
further than she ever saw before and visualize what
she first only saw as a problem.
Together, we have amazing worth!
Often, as pastors, we don’t recognize
the annoying whistling sounds that announce the
arrival of yet another new congregational member.
Their constant babbling and excited talk annoy
us because they have ‘no substance’ and no
‘follow-through.’
So we call them dreamers and shallow and brush
them off, disappointed that at first we had thought
them an answer, and now we discover that they are only
dreamers.
The church secretary who is obsessed with
her lists, rules and regulations, does a terrific job.
But her constant correcting, picking and
worrying over tiny, unimportant details weary us.
We wave our hand and tell her not to do what
she is created and gifted to do, and walk away leaving
her frightened and panicked because she is certain
‘the sky is falling!’
She has no vision – she cannot see beyond the
end of her arm that holds yet another angry letter
from yet another frustrated member who is leaving the
church because they feel that they are not appreciated
nor wanted.
You sigh and wish that someone would come
and sort things out for you, yet when another pastor
who can see clearly, comes and tells you what he or
she sees, you get angry and protective because you
don’t appreciate being criticized and having your
weaknesses pointed out. You ignore their advice, never recognizing their gift and
once again with a wave of your hand and a prideful
air, wave them away to solve your problem on your own.
There is an illustration that I’ve heard
several times about the difference between heaven and
hell. It
seems there is a group of starving people in hell with
a cooking pot filled to the brim with hot, tasty soup.
The problem is, that even though the people are
all seated around this pot, they cannot move towards
it and are only equipped with a very long handled
spoon. So
long are the handles in fact, that they cannot
possibly bring it to their own lips to eat. This is indeed, hell.
Heaven is the same scenario – only these
people have figured out what the gift of their spoon
is for. It
is to feed the person directly in front of them, while
they receive from that persons spoon.
They are well fed and content and feel loved
and nurtured. Now,
this is heaven indeed!
Another problem is that we have no clue as
to the use of the other vessels around us that are
whistling their own heart-felt song.
The business man who has an incredible knack
for earning money grieves because the pastor who is
constantly broke and complaining about the church that
has no money to pay to pay all the bills will not
listen and learn from him.
The pastor thinks that man should simply pay
all the bills and give over and above that so that the
pastor’s family will be taken care of.
Why else would God have given that man such
prosperity, but to support the church and the priest? But
the business man sees beyond the immediate and knows
that not all supplies are permanent.
He sees that the answer to the constant problem
of lacking finances is to re-educate the congregation
in their own finances as well as the pastor.
But the pastor thinks he is only consumed with
money and greed and will not hear the wisdom this man
brings nor give him place to teach the others.
Whether or not we like it, we are all from
the same body, and need what each part provides.
How quickly we pass judgments on one another
because we refuse to have the patience or learn the
unconditional love that Christ urged us to display, in
order to understand our other parts.
First Corinthians 12 urges us to understand one
another, to not judge or ignore what we perceive as
‘lesser’ parts.
Let’s face it – we’re all a little
bit on the rough side.
The dreamer may refuse to face facts and remain
in constant denial, while the problem solver sees only
problems and becomes consumed with worry because of
all the problems they see around them.
It is impossible for the worrier to feed
themselves, because their spoon is so long and to feed
themselves only brings panic and fear.
They need to be fed by the visionary/dreamer in
order receive hope and purpose.
The dreamer/visionary would starve if they fed
only upon dreams because what those dreams need is
direction and order to activate them and make them
real.
To the dreamer I’d like to encourage you
that the person that you are usually drawn to share
your dreams with, is most likely the one who has the
gift to help you in those dreams.
However, if they do not recognize your dreams
for what they are, they may consider you shallow and
mindless, just as if you do not recognize their gift,
your feelings will be hurt by their constant
‘throwing of a wet blanket’ on everything you do.
However, if we apply unconditional love, we
will listen to what the other shares and then take it
before the throne to have the Lord show us what is
strength and what is weakness.
Just because someone offers their gift,
doesn’t mean that we have to receive it the way it
was given.
At one point in “The Gods Must Be Crazy,”
the bushmen became so frustrated with not
understanding what the gift in his hand was for, he
decided that it was a weapon and hit someone on the
head with it. Of
course, we know that his gift was never intended as a
weapon, but we also know that it became one.
Another example would be the gift of a leader,
who without love, maturity and character, sees how
something could be done better, and rather than lead
properly in the manner his gift was intended, beats
others on the head, or ‘slices and dices’ them in
the name of the Lord, criticizing them for their
weaknesses and failures.
No wonder we are urged not to grieve the
Holy Spirit! No
wonder we are told that before we take communion, we
are to go and make amends with our brothers that we
have ought against.
(We are told that some become sick and some
even die because they will not do this!)
Why? Think
about it. Have
you ever seen someone literally make themselves sick
because of an offense?
Chances are, a gift was offered – maybe in an
immature way – but offered nonetheless, and it was
not recognized, but offense was taken.
Now the person who is sick is consumed with
anger and hatred or hurt and shame because they took
offense at a misunderstood gift.
If the other bushmen that got hit with the
bottle had understood its true purpose, he could have
rubbed his head and then shown what the bottle was
really to be used for.
Oh, we have so much to learn about one
another – and ourselves!
Don’t despise who you are and how you see and
do things! LEARN
about your gift!
LEARN about the gifts in others!
God has given you EVERYTHING you need to
accomplish the vision He has given you. You only have to receive it and look around.
It is in your hand at this very minute.
How do I know? Because our God is a loving God of provision and He never
gives a vision without the provision.
If you can’t recognize it and you are
frustrated with what you are perceiving as useless
gifts and useless people, I urge you to take a second,
more humbled look.
It may not have been what you ordered, but it
IS just what the Doctor ordered. Doctor Jesus always knows what we need because He sees the
FULL picture. After
all, He IS the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith!
1
Cor 12:7-8
But
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one
for the profit of all:
