On Being God’s Instrument

A plain ball-point pen in the hands of an average human being can make some cute doodles, but a pen in Rembrandt’s hands can create a masterpiece. It is not the pen – the instrument – that matters. Rather, it is the Author and Creator who can wield a glorious work of art from simple tools.

 When I was younger – a child, a teenager, a new college grad – I had big dreams and goals for my life. I observed grown-ups and thought to myself that few of them seemed to be very goal-oriented or intentional about personal growth. Most of them just seemed to live to get through each day. I have known a small handful of individuals who have admitted to keeping a list of goals for their lives, often arranged in categories, like physical, mental, spiritual, etc., and this has impressed me. I have often thought to myself through the years that I did not want to lose that sense of purposeful learning, growing, and striving.

 Periodically, maybe a couple of times a year, I pause to glance back through the recent past and imagine the future, and I am inspired to work towards a particular goal. Sometimes these goals are personal and internal, like training for a new goal in my workouts or learning how to create a new crafty project. Increasingly, the goals are spiritual, and I sense they are promptings from God, who is always growing and changing me (Phil 1:6: “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”).

 The theme of my thoughts and prayers lately has centered around being an instrument of God. Over the past few years as my relationship with God has developed, I have been intentional about Him working *in* me; I have taken classes and read books to learn more about God, to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to die to myself and to live for Christ. While God has worked *through* me to some extent, I have not been as intentional about allowing Him to truly and deeply use my life.

 Providentially, as I have been praying through these thoughts over the past month or so, our pastor’s sermon this weekend focused on this very issue. He quoted 1 Thessalonians 2: “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too.” I do not wish to just learn about God and allow Him to change me, though I do want to continue to be intentional in that way, and I do not desire for God to use only my skills, but I want Him to use my life. This year, I want to focus on intentionally becoming God’s instrument.

 As I have begun thinking this way, God has revealed to me several occasions where to say “yes” would be to serve another person, yet because of my selfishness and desire to avoid discomfort, I am tempted to say “no.” What kind of ambassador for Christ am I if I am praying that God would use me, yet the moment it infringes on my personal comfort, I shy away? I am thankful God is revealing these occasions to me.

 I have been reading the book “Instruments in the Redeemers Hands,” and Paul David Tripp, the author, writes that “everybody ministers and everybody needs ministry. . . I need to wake up in the morning and say, ‘God, I am a person in desperate need of help. Please send helpers my way and give me the humility to receive the help you have provided.’ And I need to pray further, ‘Lord, make me willing to help someone else see himself as you see him today.’” That passage is powerful to me. I want to be God’s instrument to help others see themselves as God sees them