What Kind of Tool Are You?

Psalm 15

    A psalm of David.
 1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD?
      Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
 2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
      speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
 3 Those who refuse to gossip
      or harm their neighbors
      or speak evil of their friends.
 4 Those who despise flagrant sinners,
      and honor the faithful followers of the LORD,
      and keep their promises even when it hurts.
 5 Those who lend money without charging interest,
      and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.
   Such people will stand firm forever.

There are two things which happen to us when we receive Christ; salvation and restoration. Salvation is immediate, for it is by grace that we are saved and obtain the promise of eternal life with Him. To achieve restoration, on the other hand, we must participate.

God's desire is to make us whole, for until He does, we are but broken tools to Him and the work we do for the Kingdom will be slow and tedious. Imagine trying to hoe your garden when the handle has been snapped off. You would need to bend in order to compensate for the shortened length. Oh, how my back hurts just thinking about that! Also, the stub of the sheared off handle is sharp and jagged, and at risk of injuring myself and and others.

How does God restore us? Jesus explains it in three short sentences as recorded by Matthew:

"Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:29-30 NLT

The key words are "let me TEACH you.". But to learn, I must have a teachable spirit. I must swallow my pride and be able to receive correction. As any school teacher knows, the key to proper learning is correction, for what good would it be to give a student a test but to fail to correct it? I still remember those dreaded big red x's and check marks! But it was only through the marks of the red pen that I was able to learn. So it is with our spiritual lives.

It is only through restoration that Jesus' burden becomes light, for the work is hard, but I will have the proper tools to get the job done. Only through restoration will I have joy and peace, for I simply cannot continue to ignore my brokenness.

How annoying is it to pull one of those broken shopping carts out of the stack? You know the ones...wheels broken and spinning, noisy and always pulling the cart to one side or the other. The broken cart just seems to have a mind of its own, always wanting to go its own way. Not only does it add time to my shopping excursion, it does not allow me much peace in what could otherwise be an enjoyable trip. So now I am faced with a choice; to take the the time to return the cart for a different one or to struggle against it until I checkout and wrestle it to my car.

The problem is, time is something that people in modern society seem to lack. Or at least that is the perception. I always find time for doing the things I want to do. It all boils down to priorities. Learning, just like returning the broken cart, takes time. It seems for the majority of my life I was content to hobble along, broken with my wheels spinning, tugging against God to go my own way. I chuckle to think that to God, we must all look like broken shopping carts.

Just as it is in the classroom, we need to spend time with God, learning through reading His Word and listening to others teach on on His Word when we need help understanding. For how are we to ever learn physics if we never open the book or attend a lecture?

For restoration to begin in earnest, I must be bold enough to approach the Throne of Grace and ask my Father what lessons He would like to teach me today. His response will not always be one I wish to hear, but will always be one I need.

Reviewing David's words as written in Psalm 15, I find myself wondering who can possibly be qualified to worship in the Sactuary of the Lord? For none of us, it would seem meet all of the criteria all of the time. Matthew 19:26 provides the answer:

"Jesus looked at them intently and said, 'Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.'"

My prayer:

"Heavenly Father, for today and everyday for the rest of my life please show me what I must learn in order to achieve the restoration which You so desire for me and make me into the tool which will most efficiently be able to do Your work. In Jesus Name, Amen."