Tools of the Trade

Grace and I have been staying at a condo for the past week so she can recuperate from pneumonia.  It's been quite the adventure this year for sickness and injuries. God has definitely been showing us the need to lean on him. He has provided though and for that we are grateful.  And while all this has been occurring I have tried to maintain the healthy life transition that we have been on for the past year as well.  These trials that we've been going through have also helped in seeing the lifestyle change for us is truly a lifestyle change because we continue to do it despite all of the setbacks.  It's a great way to see how God is confirming and establishing in our hearts the permanent change we have made for his glory and our good. And one of the major health changes that we have implemented in our life is an active gym culture. We strength train four times a week with an established routine and program.  As you can guess, it's been a bit difficult to maintain this while staying in the condo.

If you know hotels/condos you know they advertise gyms, but these gyms are not as great as one might want them to be.  They are filled with what seems to be less than quality products.  They also usually are only stocked with what some might think are just enough to get by.  There are no free weights or dumbbells and the machines they have are multi-use (which is good) but limited in number (which means they’re always taken).  

When I was doing a lot of audio recording I learned a good rule which has stuck with me through all of the things that I take on now.  It is the saying “it’s not the tools but the one who handles them”.  This means that you can create great music from just about any type of recording equipment.  What it takes is a good engineer that knows what he/she is doing.  One just has to squeeze as much out of it as they can.  Of course if you have better equipment the better the final product will be, but if the engineer stinks at his/her job it doesn’t matter how good the equipment is.  That's what I’m trying to do with the gym equipment. I want to maximize the use of it.  

I believe this is what God does with us.  While I was resting in between sets I thought, I’m like  one of these crusty old treadmills.  They look horrible, outdated and barely start up, yet people are coming in here putting them to good use to maintain and even increase their gains while on their vacations.  God uses me, a broken vessel, to achieve his wondrous work in the world.  I think so often we believe we have to fix ourselves up or maybe get all the knowledge in or be completely confident in ourselves to carry out the ministry of the LORD.  But this is absolutely not true. The Spirit, he uses us despite all our inadequacies. It's not the instrument but the one who handles them.  Because God is the greatest craftsman he can use whatever tools to create masterpieces.  Let's not let our failures and shortcomings stop us from being used by God. He can use anything and anybody he desires.  Be used by him.

But we should be growing.  God the ultimate artist can weave beautiful tapestry from any tool, but obviously everyone loves the best of the best. We should be everyday growing in our walk with God and by doing so becoming better tools for his arsenal.  As we know more about him, and live more as he lived then God gets even more glory and even more fame.  And that’s the aim right?        

So may you start today and submit to God as being an instrument of righteousness trusting that the hands of the creator can build beautiful things in this world through our broken shells while at the same time be molding us into better imitators of him becoming more complete tools to be used to bring greater glory to his name.