Least?

October 13th, 2018| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

Least?

Recently a Grand Rapids, MI, man, David Mazurek, saw on the news that meteorite hunters were finding shards and selling them for thousands of dollars after a meteor shower this January in the Detroit area.

That made the guy curious about a nondescript rock that he’d been using as a door stop in his farm.

Said Mr. Mazurek:

Wait a minute. I wonder what this rock is. Maybe it’s worth something.”

It was.

That 22.5-pound rock was recently identified by Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences professor, Dr. Monaliza Sirbescu, after Mazurek “brought it to her out of curiosity.”

Yup, it was a meteorite, and that chunk of iron and nickel was valued at $100,000 after the Smithsonian Institution verified the find, reported CMU in a release. Michigan’s sixth-largest meteorite.

Mazurek:

I’m done using it as a doorstop. Let’s get a buyer!”

A $100,000 doorstop!

We might assume something is worth nothing, but we might be wrong.

We might think we Christians are uninfluential, insignificant, pitiful, powerless, and pathetic. And we would be wrong.

And the inspired Paul shows us that in Ephesians 3.

Look at what God did through Paul:

… you have heard of the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
that, by revelation, the mystery was made known to me, …
namely, that the Gentiles are co-heirs and co-members and co-partakers
of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Ephesians 3:2–3, 6

What was a “mystery” is now made known through Paul—the grand design of God, the consummation of all things in Christ. One day, in God’s grand design, everything is going to be integrated, harmonized, and aligned with Christ. And all believing humanity in this grand design becomes a united people of God, the body of Christ.

And to make this glorious divine purpose known was Paul’s specific role in God’s grand design. Paul was God’s man for the moment, shedding light on this revelation of the glorious purpose of God.

And get this: God’s use of Paul is not because Paul was anything special. Notice how Paul gives himself zero credit for all this—catch the preponderance of passive verbs:

… you have heard of the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
that, by revelation, the mystery was made known to me …
which, in other generations, was not made known to the sons of men,
as it has now been revealed
of which I was made a servant,
according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me.
Ephesians 3:2–3, 5, 7

All of Paul’s doings and successes were by God’s grace. He was made a servant of God, a tool of God, an instrument of God in God’s hands.

God’s power. God’s grace. God’s doing. That’s how Paul was used.

And get this:

To me, less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given to me.
Ephesians 3:8

“Less than the least” is a single word in the Greek that Paul has just concocted. In English, we have short/shorter/shortest, and low/lower/lowest. Likewise, less/lesser/least. But Paul here wants to go one more step, and so he coins a new Greek word: “leaster”—that’s what it really is—“leaster”! Less/lesser/least/ … leaster!

And if God can use Mr. Leaster, surely—surely!—he can use us, no matter how insignificant, overwhelmed, and weak we may be. He can use us, even us. And use us, he will.

A doorstop? No, a valuable meteorite!

Even the “leastest” is critical to God’s grand purposes!

2 Comments

  1. ken kause October 14, 2018 at 8:32 am

    thank you for sharing your insights into God’s wonderful Book of Truth and Grace…. Keep it up!

    Ken Kause

    Reply

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