Do It Yourself . . . but not by yourself
Citizen Ship
Posted: October 20, 2017

THIS JUST IN

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You could learn how to grow a Thousand Bloom Mum from a video, cultivate a tomato from a gardening book, or change a tire from a car manual. But to really understand those tasks, try them with your own two hands. Once you have some dirt under your fingernails and grease on your face, you’ll be getting the idea—and you’ll probably have a lot more gratitude for the people who do those jobs full time.

In the Bible, Christians are reminded to make it their goal to live quietly and work with their hands. (1 Thessalonians 4:11) God wants our lives to be full of good works. You can use your hands in many good ways. You can be a good steward by growing your own food. You can help a neighbor by knowing how to change a tire. Someday you can even bless your own kids by passing important life skills onto them.

But here’s something important to remember. While it’s good to know how to do things yourself, you don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) do everything by yourself. God made you to live in community with other people. Each person in your community has different gifts that can be used to bless others. Communities flourish when people use their individual strengths to work together.  Can you cut your own hair, grow all your own food, build your own house, and fix your own car? Even if you could do all those things, you probably wouldn’t do them as well as the people who are gifted to do each of those things skillfully. God doesn’t give one person all the gifts. He gives each person some gifts so people will depend on each other and share.

What gifts has God given you? He gave very particular gifts to two artists, Bezalel and Oholiab. They had to build the Tabernacle, a place for God’s glory to dwell. You can read about their huge, detailed project in the book of Exodus. You won’t have to read much before you know this isn’t a project you’d want to DIY (Do It Yourself).