I came home one day to drop off the groceries before I had to head back out to a meeting. I managed to get through the gate and front door of the building. But as I attempted to open the front door to my condo it seemed that my key wouldn’t work. As I repeatedly turned and twisted the key into the lock I eventually realized that I was using the wrong key for that lock.
No one makes a lock without a key that fits it. Likewise, God won’t give you (allow you to see) problems without placing the solution inside of you. You were born to be the solution to someone’s problem. You and I were born to be the key to unlock someone’s understanding of his or her purpose. Maybe we have the key to a medical or societal problem that has been plaguing humanity for decades. Whatever the case, no lock remains locked once the correct key has been applied.
In life, we may have to catch ourselves from constantly looking for “keys” to help unlock things in our own lives. Perhaps if we focus more on being the key as opposed to looking for one, we would find more value and meaning in life. In The Road To Character, David Brooks writes, “Your job is to figure out certain things: What does this environment need in order to be made whole? What is it that needs repair? What tasks are lying around waiting to be performed?”
THE DISCOVERY OF THE KEY
Life’s greatest discovery is purpose. This discovery far exceeds anything you may learn in school, in sports, or in a relationship. Jesus tells the following parable about discovering a hidden treasure that I believe helps put this concept into perspective: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” This is the same excitement and response we should have upon the discovery of our purpose.
This man may have been wealthy but whatever was hidden in the field was so precious that he was willing to give up everything he already had in order to obtain this field. He found something in the field that fit him better than everything he had acquired in life. Likewise, there is a problem or lock to which your purpose or key was designed to fit. In essence, the lock holds your treasure. Keep in mind this discovery may take time and years of searching, which is all the more reason to cherish it when you discover it.
THE DEFINING OF THE KEY
Could you imagine if every key worked in every lock? There would be chaos. Break-ins would be daily occurrences. Although, you couldn’t really call them break-ins… Thankfully, key and lock manufacturers were wise enough to create specific keys for specific locks. In fact when you make a copy of a key they take the original key and the other key, which is to be reshaped, and a machine traces the grooves of the original in order to produce an exact replica in the other key.
We were designed to be unique originals. We were each designed with specific skills (like the grooves of a key) that would fit in a specific location or vocation (lock) that needs our purpose to be unleashed. We need to make sure that we are fully shaped and understand every groove that we have so that we can be properly positioned to unlock our destiny.
THE DEPLOYMENT OF THE KEY
Places that house the most precious and valuable items typically have the most impenetrable locks known to man. This makes the keys that unlock these buildings, safes, and vaults some of the most rare and necessary keys in existence. Sometimes we get frustrated that the key that we feel we have isn’t desired where we reside. It’s possible that you are trying to unlock some things that you were never designed to open. We may feel devalued. But, it’s possible that your key or purpose is rare and valuable and therefore should only be deployed with caution and in the proper community, business, school, ministry, or organization.
Instead of forcing our way into groups, governments, or gatherings that don’t seem to want us we should focus on finding the area to which we can be a blessing. We are the key so it is easy to remain inwardly focused especially when we don’t feel like those on the outside are looking our way. However, those outsiders are keys as well. They too are looking for locks of their own. Remember, the goal of the key is not to find another key, but rather to find the corresponding lock that will make its existence necessary.
At what points do my talents and deep gladness meet the world’s deep need? – Frederick Buechner
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