Equip the Saints

You know the kid I’m talking about.

He doesn’t sit still. He lives more in his imagination than reality. He talks even faster than he thinks, mostly at a higher decibel level than any other noise in the room.

Last week, he sped in the church at the head of the line, as usual, and held something out to me.

“I made a man praying out of legos,” he said proudly. He said I could keep it.

I almost wept as I studied each piece meticulously chosen and attached to another.

If, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, the work of the church is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry,” then my lego man is about more than just prayer.

Every lego must cling to every other lego in order to create the image that the creator imagined for it. 

Just as the little busy boy planned out the praying man and selected each different piece for each part of the man- the kneeling knees, the folded hands, the block head- our Creator selected each Christian in the church to cling to all the others in order to be the image that He willed us to be in our community. 

Equipping the saints means completely furnishing them with everything they will need to do the work of serving others.

When you worshiped at your church this past Sunday, how did you furnish the other believers with everything they would need to do their daily tasks of serving the others in their lives?

There is a lady in my church who serves her family by cooking, cleaning, and working two jobs. She is already doing the work of serving others, but when her friend and neighbor passed away recently, she took more (bereaved) children into her home. Several other church members brought groceries to help her continue her work of ministry. Someone loaned a vehicle. Many of us prayed. It was a beautiful picture of the equipping nature of the church.

So often, we get a picture in our heads of what ministry should look like. It involves church programs and pews. But the people in our churches are already doing so much of the work of serving. They care for aging parents and young children. They evangelize their co-workers and neighbors. They give rides, take meals, offer comfort, and just listen. 

Each one is a lego brick in the praying man, offering their bodies as a living sacrifice each day to glorify God. We as the church need to ensure we are furnishing them with the prayer, encouragement, resources, and means to do the work God has called them to do. We are a part of that cloud of witnesses who surround them, cheering them on and praising the Lord when they honor Him by loving others.

Together, we are the salt and the light that Jesus called us to be, making a difference in the life of even the busy boy who hardly listens in Sunday School but who taught me a good lesson this week.