"After everyone was full, Jesus told His disciples, now gather the leftovers, so nothing is wasted." (John 6:12 NLT)
"Let nothing be wasted." (John 6:12 NIV)
The longer we walk with Jesus, the more convinced we become of His genius. No circumstance, interaction, conversation, experience or challenge is wasted. He is constantly teaching His disciples truths about His Kingdom and advancing His perfect plan. This is true in want and in plenty. In the country or the city. In fellowship or in prayer. In receipt or rejection. In popularity or obscurity. In understanding or in uncertainty. In youthfulness or advancing years. In work or at rest. He wastes nothing.
This perspective is helpful for us to hold on to. Maybe you are crawling through a season of questions or disconnection. Maybe your job is particularly stressful or your church has hurt you. Maybe you are adjusting to loss or learning to live with a difficult diagnosis. Be assured, God is using this season, too. This tough thing, this turn in the road that you didn’t anticipate, this accident or outcome that you would have avoided altogether: God has a redemption plan in mind, and it will eventually be patch or needlework in your beautiful story.
At least a decade ago, I was settling in to teach a youth Sunday school class when a student asked about Romans 8:29. We never made it past the first reference that day.
"And we now that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." (Romans 8:29 NLT)
This verse isn’t a bandaid of wishful thinking that we slap on every bump and scrape in life. No, it’s a litmus test for our faith. This scripture asks us two critical questions: Do we love God? Are we called? If we can answer those questions affirmatively, then we can trust that God can use this – whatever ‘this’ might be – to further His kingdom. Somehow, some way, He’ll bless His people through it.
It was after this initial set-up that I shared about my dad’s decade working at Iowa Beef Processing. In that time, Dad was an electrician by trade, so he was responsible to keep the mechanization moving. I’ve always been inquisitive, so Dad shared in great detail about his work in the slaughter house: from the stockyard into the kill-chute, the skinning, the blood collection, and bone marrow retrieval. He made it clear that the processing plant carefully extracted and repurposed every part of the cow. From hoof to horn; nothing was wasted. Every ounce of beef or beef-related substance was salvaged and sold. And IBP profited big-time.
The cow is completely dedicated to the processing. The deed (or whatever exists for farm animals) has changed hands. IBP owns the beef and how they proceed is their prerogative.
In a much less gory manner; God uses our whole cow, also. Only the cow is our life; every circumstance, encounter, limitation and condition is redeemable for the Kingdom. He wastes nothing. The questions we keep coming back to remain critical: do we love Him and are we called? Will we dedicate our whole selves to Kingdom service and stop objecting when we dislike the process?
"In His kindness God called you to share in His glory by means of Jesus Christ. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation." (1 Peter 5:10 NLT)
Lord, how easily we forget; You waste nothing. We look at our circumstances and we have questions. We wonder how You could possibly redeem this current heartache for Your Kingdom. Today we are reminded: that is not our concern. There are only two questions for us to be consumed with: do we love You and are we called? God, give us the courage to keep saying yes to both questions, despite the difficulty or dreariness of today. Build up our trust in Your talent of wasting nothing. Stoke our hope in the Kingdom and strengthen us to remain devoted. Amen.