I have no gift to bring fit for King. I never will. So why even offer him anything?
This question has been playing on repeat in my mind lately.
I have been listening the song Little Drummer Boy on repeat too.( And if you must know, my Christmas tree is still up. Merry Valentine’s Day!)
We all have a drum. Question is: Are we playing it for our King? Are we playing our best for him? Or are we not even interested in dusting it off?
Lately I’ve felt that my ‘drum’ is sitting under a pile of dirty dishes, mountains of laundry, sick kiddos, an avalanche of adoption paperwork and pets I forget to feed. To be honest, trying to dig out that drum would take too much effort. And even if I did, I guarantee, it may sound more like a War Drum then one of honor and praise.
I have no gift to bring fit for a King.
The fact that I can’t even make the effort to play a simple song of praise to him, is proof of that. But what is my ‘drum’?
My spiritual gifts? My talents? Maybe.
When we focus on the gifts God has given us, and consider using them for his Kingdom, it is easy to scrutinize the ‘gift’. It is easy to point the finger back at God when we feel we have nothing of worth to give him. After all, HE made us. He could have given me a more beautiful voice, he could’ve given me the mind of Einstein or perhaps the leadership of Lincoln.
But no, he just gave me this drum. This old, out of tune, imperfect drum, swallowed up by the mundane details of everyday life. It is easy to look at the ‘wise men’ around us who are bringing him their finest gifts, and feel defeated:
I am just a Mom. I am sort of a writer. I am simply just not as ‘gifted’ as THAT person. So I’ll kind of play my drum…if it’s all God has given me.
But when we judge the drum, whatever it may look like in our life…we are judging God.
‘Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his…’ Psalm 100:3
When we think of our ability to bring a gift worthy of a King in terms of our talents, we will only half heartedly be able to play a song for him. And when we half heartedly play our drum for him, we miss Jesus.
‘As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4
God will ask us to give out of our ‘poverty’ at some point in our lives. Maybe it will be sickness, a broken heart, exhaustion or literal financial strain. We will have moments where we could say to God, I’ve got nothing to offer you right now. Even if I did, it would be two small coins because that is all you have given me!.
We blame our King because we forget who our King is.
When we come to him among the rich and say, This is all I have…, our King says, That is all I want.
Are we like the widow who gives all we have?
Sometimes all we feel we have is bitterness and anger. We look at our drum of a life and think, You expect me to do wonders for your kingdom with this mess?!
No. But Jesus can do wonders for his kingdom with that mess.
We must start lifting that entire drum up to Him if we want the beat to change…’she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.’
When I was in college, I saved up to buy a set of Conga Drums. I had to save up because they were not cheap! There was a season that I played them every day…then every week…then….well, never. Sometimes I wonder if those drums were worth the cost?
The drum is not only our talents. The drum is our lives. We must recognize, they were bought at a great cost. They were bought with the blood of Christ.
‘But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’
Was it really worth the sacrifice? Did God make a poor judgment call when he ransomed our lives?
The value of the drum is set by the price paid. We best not miss the crazy love that has been poured out for us.
When we sit on our drum, complain about it’s usefulness, and question it’s ability to make a beautiful sound, we are spitting on the cross.
God Almighty sacrificed His son because he saw enormous value in saving us for His orchestra.
If the creator of the universe sees value in the condition of our lives, we better start to change our perspective.
Will we remain silent and miss our purpose?
The drum is my life: The only gift worthy of a King. If that consists of fatigue, my marriage, my kid’s snotty noses and piles of paper work…then let me learn to put in my ‘two very small copper coins’ with a thankful heart. A THANKFUL heart…because I know my King. My King saved me for a reason.
Let me have the courage to bring my little drum among the wise men and ask with a humble heart, Shall I play for you?
I guarantee the song I play to my King will not always be lovely.
But my King is lovely. My King is full of grace. He gave me this life.
He fashioned my drum. He is listening.
As long as I am playing my drum only for Him…
He is smiling…
Smiling at me and my drum.