Using Your Life: Made for a Reason

G’day, mates!

It’s our last day of VBS. I hope you have enjoyed learning about the Bible and God’s wonderful creation.

We’ve learned about different regions of Australia and the animals that live there.

Map

Kangaroos that live near Uluru,

Coral that lives in the Great Barrier Reef

The platypus that lives near the coast

And the koala that lives in the Eucalypt forest

Our last stop in Australia is called Coober Pedy.

Coober Pedy

This is where almost all the gems called ‘opals’ can be found. But you have to go underground to find them.

So, people work in mines under the ground.

In fact, most people there live under ground. There is actually a town down there with a hotel, a bank, a restaurant, a library, several churches, and homes.

Do you think you would like to live under the ground?

Living under the ground isn’t easy, but the people who live in Coober Pedy all work together so their town can function well.

I want you to imagine your house:

Your house has lots of different rooms. There’s your bedroom, your living room, the kitchen, and the bathroom(s). Each part of your house is meant to be used a certain way, right?

Now, if your house were all bedrooms with beds, closets, and dressers, how would your parents cook? That wouldn’t work well.

If your house were all kitchens with ovens, stoves, microwaves, refrigerators, and sinks, where would you sleep? You’d probably have to lie down on a counter somewhere, but that wouldn’t be very comfortable.

If your house were all bathrooms with showers, tubs, sinks, and toilets, you’d have lots of other problems.

Your house has different rooms with different uses and functions. Each one of those rooms is important for you to be able to do that function, right?

Slide

Your body is the same.

You have a brain to think and control the rest of your body.

You have a lungs to get oxygen into your body and carbon dioxide out of your body.

You have a heart to pump blood through your body so all the different parts of your body can get the things they need to work.

You have a stomach to digest the food you eat to get energy.

You have kidneys to help get rid of the stuff if your body that can’t be used anymore.

All of these parts of your body have to work together so your body can live and work, right?

The Bible uses the example of the different parts of our body to talk about how each of us has different jobs, work, callings, or (the fancy term) vocations.

Everyone say, “vocation.”

You probably hear me or Pastor Dan using that term sometimes in our sermons. Vocation simply means the things God has given you do to do or the callings God has given you.

Everyone has a vocation that is unique and important to help other people who need us.

Let’s look at that passage:

1 Corinthians 12:14–25

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?

Wouldn’t it be silly if someone’s body was made up of all eyes or ears or noses? That body wouldn’t work well or last very long.

God has made you part of the body of Christ, and you have important work to do to help the rest of the body.

Maybe you don’t think you are a very important part of the body. Well, you’re wrong. You are needed in the body. Let’s keep reading the passage.

1 Corinthians 12:14–25

18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. … 24 But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

There is one more animal from Australia that is created by God, and it helps us see how God designs everything with a purpose and a function.

Video

Body slide

Let’s talk about all the important things or vocations that God gives you.

God put you in your family to do important things.

God put you in your family to love, honor, and obey your parents. Your parents need you or they’d get pretty bored. And God decided that your parents needed children to love, so being loved by your parents is an important vocation God has given you.

How many of you have siblings (brothers and sisters)? God gave you siblings so you can help them, teach them, learn from them, and be their friend.

How many of you will go to school this fall? God gives you teachers who need you to learn and do your homework so they can have a job that provides for their family. And God is using your teachers to help you learn lots of things so you can grow up, get a job, and have a family. And your job will help others too.

Maybe, you will be a doctor or nurse and help sick people get better.

Maybe, you will be an electrician, plumber, or interior decorator and help people take care of their house.

Maybe, you will be a farmer and grow food for people; or a truck driver who helps get that food to people.

Maybe, you will be a janitor and help keep things clean so people can use the places you clean to do their jobs. That’s important too.

Any job you can think of, God will use you in that job to help others.

Everything you do is important because God has given that task for you to do. Even if you don’t think it is important, don’t worry. It is.

So whatever God gives you to do, do it and do it the best way you can.

Memory verse