Tools for the Job

‘Fear and trembling’! I think most of us felt, when we came to faith, that the Christian life would be one of love, joy, and peace. Fear and trembling would be things of the past.

What Paul is talking about here is our heart attitude as we ‘work out’ our salvation.

We needed a new table-lamp for our sitting room. I had recently obtained my father’s old lathe, and this would be my first project using it. I had some nice hardwood, roughly rounded for use on a lathe. I could have just made a hole in it for the flex and the light fitting and that would have been that – wobbly and not very nice to look at.

This would be a pretty good description of most of us (all of us, actually) when we first come to faith. Wobbly and still carrying the blemishes of our past. But God doesn’t want us to stay like that.

I approached my task with some trepidation. It was years since I had used a lathe. But I soon began to get the feel of it and, before long, my table-lamp was taking shape. In making it, I had to use the appropriate tools in the right way. I already had the lathe and the chisels, but it was up to me to use them correctly.

As I was switching it off one evening, I felt God saying, “Richard, you are just playing with the Scriptures”.

I have always loved the Bible. When I was preparing for full-time ministry, I revelled in the academic study of Scripture. And that’s something I easily lapse back into. It’s not that there’s anything wrong in it – it’s really important to understand the Bible correctly. But Scripture is the word of God – through it He speaks to us. In many ways it’s His primary tool for shaping our lives. We use it by listening and then applying what He says.

I could just look at my chisels and admire them. I could sharpen them to perfection. That would be just ‘playing with them’. I’ve had to make a deliberate effort to get beyond just enjoying the text of the Bible, to listen to God and apply what He says to my life.

‘Fear and trembling’? Well, yes. You see, there’s so much at stake. Without the work of restoration and shaping that God wants to complete in our lives, we remain ‘wobbly and not very nice to look at’. In my heart of hearts, I want to please God. I want to be secure, and not wobbly. I want people to see something of Jesus in me. When we begin to understand just how important that is, not getting there is rather scary.

And I’ll tell you something else. It was deeply satisfying to see my lampstand take shape under the chisel. It’s just the same as we use the tools that God provides and see our lives taking shape.