Designed To Serve

by Jeff Bills

My dog’s name is Kody.  Kody is a beautiful three year old chocolate Labrador retriever.  He is also big…really big.  Kody is quite tall for his breed, he weighs about 110 pounds and he is quite muscular and strong.  Kody is also a big chicken!  At the first sound of distant thunder our big strong dog is cowering under a table somewhere in the house.  On a walk recently we crossed paths with a guy walking his eight pound Chihuahua.  The little dog began to pull on his leash and barking as if he wanted to attack Kody.  My big strong dog circled behind me with his tail between his legs and he just whimpered.  How embarrassing.

On the other hand, when Kody is in the woods or swimming in a lake he is enormously confident and competent.  In those environments Kody’s instincts kick in and he seems to know exactly what he was bred to do.  Both of my dog’s parents are field trained hunting dogs.  Kody’s father has won many field competitions and his mother is a skilled retriever whose owner says she’s the best he has ever worked with – and he’d worked with a lot of retrievers.

It is fun to see Kody in his element doing what he was designed to do.  He is unfazed running through a briar patch, he is a strong swimmer and he gladly fetches anything you throw – no matter where it lands.  My boys and I love to play hide-and-seek with Kody in the woods.  I hold the dog while Josh and Matt run deep off the path to hide.  No matter how far they go or how dense the bush is they hide in, they cannot escape the big brown nose!  Kody’s sense of smell is amazing.  Finding and fetching is what he was designed to do.

The Bible tells us that we were designed by God and designed for God.  When we are living our lives to honor God and employing the gifts he has given us to advance his Kingdom there is nothing better!  When a person with the God-given gift of teaching is using that gift to help others grow in their faith – its like, well, its like a lab in water!  Whatever your God-given gifts may be (leadership, administration, hospitality, caring…just to name a few) seek out ways to use that gift in God-honoring ways.

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