Working in a craft store was fun—fun and a little dangerous! I enjoyed interacting with the customers, hearing about and sometimes helping with their ideas. Seeing the latest crafting tools and supplies; learning about new techniques—my creative side was like a kid in a candy store! That’s where it gets dangerous: those supplies, techniques, and ideas called out from every aisle, enticing me to part with my paycheck before I could get out the door!
One day a vase grabbed my attention: with leafy metalwork vines climbing around a glass insert, it was just my taste! The store’s floral designer filled it with an arrangement to coordinate with my décor. I took it home and gave it a place of honor on the dresser; but it hadn’t really turned out the way I’d envisioned.
Between the vase and the arrangement, I had spent a chunk of money, so I left it on display. I tried it in a couple different places, tried making a few adjustments to it, but…it was…disappointing.
That vase keeps popping into my thoughts these days as I ponder what I’ve been reading in Warren Wiersbe’s book On Being a Servant of God. The author’s words paint memorable pictures that lodge in my thoughts. One of those images is his description of a servant of God as “a channel, not a reservoir”. That phrase played on a loop in my mind for days. While my hands were busy shopping, cooking, tidying the house, my mind was chewing on this: a channel, not a reservoir. I’m not meant to be a container, storing God’s power and grace; I’m meant to be a conduit, God’s power and grace working in my life, working through my life, flowing out to those around me. A channel, not a reservoir.
In that book, Wiersbe defines ministry like this: “Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human needs through loving channels to the glory of God”. God’s resources (His wisdom, insight, power, love, etc….) flowing through willing channels to meet human need. I’m not meant to sate and stuff myself with God’s treasures, not meant to hoard them, but to share and spread that love and grace to those around me. Notice the last phrase of that definition—to the glory of God. Ministry is not meant to honor the minister, bringing praise and glory to the vessel, but to glorify God alone. That vase of mine illustrates these principles for me: Studying it one day, I diagnosed why I was dissatisfied with it: those brown metal leaves seemed to disappear into the moss inside the glass. The leaves were what I fell for, and I wanted them to be noticeable. I played around with that vase, using it different ways, attempting to add contrast to highlight the leaves, changing out the flowers, but nothing seemed to give the result I was looking for. As a vase, it was perfectly serviceable; and if it had been about the flowers, that vase would have been enough. But none of my attempts showed off the vase’s beauty. In the same way, any attempt at ministry will ultimately disappoint and fall short as long as we are determined to highlight the vessel, to bring glory to ourselves. Rather, a true servant of God seeks to glorify God alone. I might want some expensive designer kitchenware if I want to impress my friends over a fancy luncheon…but to make soup for a neighbor who is ill, any old pot will do.
Loving channels…. Channels, not reservoirs.
I finally decided to let go of that vase during my home-wide decluttering purge this year, which culminated in a garage sale at the end of summer. I recognized that I wanted that vase as a showpiece much more than as a vessel, and accepted that I would never get that vase to stand out the way I wanted. I hope it worked out better for the buyer! 😉
Lord Jesus, You alone are the source of any love and grace that I can share with those around me. Help me to be that willing channel, help me to avoid hoarding Your resources, as though I were meant to be a reservoir. Most of all, help me turn away from any effort to bring glory to myself; may I instead pursue those opportunities to participate in true ministry—that which brings glory to You alone.