Repurposed by God
In the early 1930s, Cleo McVicker came up with a product that could be used as wallpaper cleaner. Back then, most homes were heated by coal, and walls became covered in soot. Cleo’s invention could be rolled over wallpaper and would pick up the grime. Well, the wallpaper cleaner never became popular, but decades later, a teacher used Cleo’s product in her classes to create Christmas ornaments. From that was born a new company—Rainbow Crafts—and the wallpaper cleaner was repurposed as a children’s toy: “Play-Doh.”
On a far greater scale, God has a way of repurposing people. We remember the biblical story of Joseph and his “coat of many colors.” As a young man, he was a lowly shepherd and was sold into slavery by his brothers. But God led Joseph through great difficulties and into the top ranks of government. Eventually Joseph became “repurposed” as “the ruler of all Egypt” (Genesis 45:26). Yet Joseph’s calling was not about power but about grace—something he extended to his brothers as he forgave them (v. 15).
In a sense, all of us are “failed products.” It’s through “the grace of a Son,” Jesus, that we are repurposed into greater things. As you do life today, think of your higher purpose and remember to extend grace to others, just as Christ does for us.
By Kenneth Petersen - Bread Ministries
Genesis 45:12-15, 21-27
12“You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. 13Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
14Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. 15And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
21So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. 22To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. 23And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. 24Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!”
25So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them. 27But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
