ARE YOU A TINKER OR A BUILDER?
ARE YOU A
TINKER OR A BUILDER?
By Mary Ann
Wray
Now that we have been a part of this ministry for almost nine months it is clear that not only is there a challenge for spiritual leadership to be in tune with God i.e., what He says in His word, what His Spirit is directing to do and what the most pressing needs are to be addressed first, but there is also a challenge and responsibility for God’s people to get on board and get involved if in fact God is calling them to a local assembly. You see, God doesn’t call us to be spectators, but builders!
As I was contemplating what we’ve observed over the past nine
months in terms of seeing people come and go, some of which have great giftings
and others receive powerful impartation, I began to ask the Lord, some “Why”
questions. “Why is it that there are only a few committed people who are
willing to lay down their personal plans and agendas and work as a team to
build your house, making sacrifices, going the extra mile and not only have the
vision of your Kingdom but possess a strong desire to build?” “Why then are there others who come, hear great
preaching, get deliverance, experience gifts of the spirit but don’t put their
hands to the plow or they do for a while and quit? “Why are there others who become easily
offended because they don’t like the way a certain person does the offering, or like their preaching style,
or the way the furniture has been re-arranged or don’t like the fact that
certain things are put in order and feel left out or offended?” “Why do others
become upset because there is a lack of help in children’s church or the
nursery and don’t come back!” These were just a few of my question. Then the
Lord answered me and said, “There is a huge difference between a tinker and a
builder.”
Please allow me to make one disclaimer to this statement if I may. I understand that there are many people like myself who at one time or another have been wounded in ‘church’, wounded by life, wounded by sin and the list goes on and on. I don’t think the Lord is discounting this fact at all. But like any hospital, we go to get diagnosed, healed, and then get on with our lives. There has to be personal responsibility to get properly diagnosed by the Word of God so we can “see” our issues, but the resurrection power of Christ and His Word WILL set us free and heal us of those wounds IF we are willing to apply the Balm of Gilead. THEN we need to put our hands to the plow. To be clear….God has made us to be workers and builders together in His Kingdom…
“For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2: 10
When he created Adam and Eve He charged them to care for the Garden He placed them in (Genesis 2: 15). We’ll never experience the fullness of Christ in the earth if we don’t begin to work in His Kingdom. I understand that it takes a lot of prayer these days to find the place God would plant you in, but nevertheless we MUST seek Him on this. We can’t make ourselves an exception to this rule! The Apostle of this work wisely says, “When we make ourselves and exception to the rule we take the first step on the journey of a fool.” This applies to any area where God’s word gives an instruction or command and we make ourselves a personal exception. We’ll never win in Christ with this type of mindset! Just like the United States-God has governance in His Kingdom. No government leads to anarchy! Poor government is better than none. Certainly our prayers and work can make a difference! (1 Timothy 2: 2; Romans 13).
It seems that “work” has become a dirty word in many circles. It
is frowned upon in our culture which has become infected with an ‘entitlement’ mind-set.
Proverbs teaches us that there is profit
in labor! In church, our culture has adopted
a mindset of coming to be entertained. The idea of working and serving in the
house of the Lord is foreign to many people! “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”
Proverbs 14: 23
If we are not careful, this attitude of coming to church to observe, be entertained or blessed, without having to give anything back in terms of service or working in God’s Kingdom, can creep into our own philosophy and render us spiritually poor. We can have off balanced thinking which says, “As a child of God I am entitled to God’s blessings without having to do a thing…just believe.” This is wrong thinking my friends! There is a cost to blessings, provision and peace. It’s called Right living and hard work!
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.” Romans 14: 17
People like to come in and see an
organized, well run ministry but they forget that in order to get to this place
it takes a lot of planning, prayer, and hard work. It’s easy to quote the
scripture, “Unless the LORD builds the house, the builder’s
labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in
vain.” Psalms 127:1, but it’s another thing to put
feet to our faith and let God build THROUGH us! God has NOT called us to be
tumbleweeds but to have a secure and healthy root system.
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” Psalms 92: 12-15. Look what the Apostle Peter had to say about building. He quotes from the 28th Book of Isaiah to confirm the Holy Spirit’s thought through Him that we are builders and workers together in God’s Kingdom…
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” 1 Peter 2: 5-8
“The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, “The Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” Psalms 92: 12-15. Look what the Apostle Peter had to say about building. He quotes from the 28th Book of Isaiah to confirm the Holy Spirit’s thought through Him that we are builders and workers together in God’s Kingdom…
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” 1 Peter 2: 5-8
Another thing I’ve observed over the years and of late is that
there are people who have strong gifts and they use them to bless others. This
is great and good but it’s not enough in terms of building God’s house/ Kingdom.
This is where the term “tinker” comes in. I had to do some research to find out
what God was saying to me i.e., “There is a huge difference between a tinker
and a builder,” and this is what I learned… A tinker was originally an itinerant tinsmith,
who mended household utensils. The word hails from the 13th century. Some travelling
people and Gypsies adopted this lifestyle and the name was
particularly associated with indigenous Irish
and Scottish Travelers.
However, this usage is disputed and considered offensive by some. Tinkering
is therefore the process of adapting, meddling or adjusting something in the course
of making repairs or improvements, a process also known as bricolage.
Meriam Webster defines tinker as a person who in the past traveled
to different places and made money by selling or repairing small items (such as
pots and pans): a usually
itinerant mender of household utensils. The verb tinker means to try to repair
or improve something (such as a machine) by making small changes or adjustments
to it.
You see, God will use anyone or anything to improve the life of another but that doesn’t make that person a builder. Some people like to ‘tinker’ in God’s house, using their gifts to bless people but they stop there. People with great giftings sometimes have a hard time putting roots down or submitting to an Apostolic team which can sometimes lead to an independent and unteachable spirit…hence a spiritual gypsy of sorts. Unless we are willing to commit, lay down our life, opinion, personal agenda and become part of an Apostolic team we’re just tinkering in God’s Kingdom, not building.
You see, God will use anyone or anything to improve the life of another but that doesn’t make that person a builder. Some people like to ‘tinker’ in God’s house, using their gifts to bless people but they stop there. People with great giftings sometimes have a hard time putting roots down or submitting to an Apostolic team which can sometimes lead to an independent and unteachable spirit…hence a spiritual gypsy of sorts. Unless we are willing to commit, lay down our life, opinion, personal agenda and become part of an Apostolic team we’re just tinkering in God’s Kingdom, not building.
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