A couple of weeks ago we had an inorganic collection in our street. These are always interesting because as Keith says, “the magpies start to gather”. Sometimes the human magpies can make a real mess of what has been put out.
But this time our experience was different. Two polite young men were driving up our street, and the back of their car was filled with items they had collected. When they saw our old coffee table on the side of the road, they stopped their car and tried to fit it in but there was just no more room. To fit it in they would have to take something out, but they didn’t want to lose these newly acquired items either. With more magpies circling they faced a real dilemma of losing the coffee table.
We decided to help them out and we told them that we would keep the coffee table until they could return and pick it up (which they did). In the end the council picked up a small fraction of what we put out and very little went to the landfill. These two men saw the value in what others didn’t and no doubt they repurposed a lot of it.
It got me thinking about how God sees the value in people who others have given up on or have been marginalized or left out. There are so many examples in scripture. But not only that, God used some of these people in the direct genealogy of Jesus, the King of Kings. Three of these people stand out to me.
Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute from Jericho, is listed in the hall of faith in Hebrew 11 for welcoming and sheltering the spies. James 2:25 tells us that she was considered righteous for what she did and because of her faith and actions she was saved when Jericho was conquered by the Israelites.
And then there was Ruth a Moabite woman, who remained faithful to her mother-in-law Naomi when they both faced terrible loss when their husbands died. Destitute and poor, they returned to Naomi’s hometown of Bethlehem. To support Naomi, Ruth was forced to pick up the discarded grain that was left behind during the wheat harvest. She was known as a noble woman and God used this noble woman in His plan.
Ruth’s great grandson was David, the youngest of eight sons. When Samuel came to anoint a new King, he was away looking after the sheep. He had older brothers who were bigger and more impressive than he was, but God looked at his heart and chose him to be the new King of Israel.
God still uses ordinary people today to serve Him. We might think we are no good and ready for the scrap heap, but God sees the value in us that others don’t. All He wants from us is a willing heart. He created us in His own image, and He wants to use our willing hearts to repurpose us in serving Him.