Making Things Useful

I don’t really have a thought for today that’s very deep, personal, or necessarily philosophical. In light of that, I wanted to share a bit from my reading today.

Philemon 10-11

I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:

(KJV)

What’s great about this passage is that this is a guy whose name means “profitable.” Paul’s play on words got me thinking: what or who has been or can be redeemed from being something that was not profitable or useful to being profitable or useful? To take an easy example, consider natural talents or gifts. While these can be used for purely selfish reasons, after conversion they can be used to promote the ends of Christ, and the glory of God. In what ways can you take something that was formerly useless and make it useful, due to God’s work in your life?