Ann can produce either 8 loaves of bread, or 4 bagels or any linear
combination in-between in one
day.
Ben can produce 3 loaves of bread, or 3 bagels or any linear combination
in-between in one day.
Cal can produce 1 loaf of bread or 2 bagels
or any linear combination in-between in one day.
So, who is the most efficient producer of bagels? Ann you might say. She can produce the most. But in reality it’s Cal. Lets look at an example. Say we need one bagel and as many loafs of bread as possible. If you have Cal make the one loaf of bread, thinking that he is the least efficient maker of Bagels, you are wrong. You will end up getting 3 bagels from Ben and 4 bagels from Ann for a total of 7 bagels. But if, however, you have Ann produce the one loaf of bread, Cal will produce 2 bagels, Ben will produce 3 bagels, and with her left over time Ann will produce 3 ½ bagels making for a total of 8 1/2 bagels. So in actuality, Ben is the most efficient producer of bagels, and Ann is the least.
I know this is a stretch, but when I first read this I really thought to myself of 1 Corinthians 12:12 which says For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. This doesn’t really sound encouraging at all I know, we see our work in the church as being small, and someone else might even actually be able to do this better than me, but this is where I can serve best, and by serving here, I allow someone else to serve somewhere else. So just a quick little (I hope) encouraging thought.
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