Using the Tools We Have Been Given

When building anything with wood you learn two important things;

1)      There is a soft wood.

2)      And there is a hard word.

If you use a soft wood; like pine, it is not only easy to work with, but you only need the most simple and basic tools a hammer and a nail. These tools together will attach any two pieces with ease. However, when you use a harder wood; like solid oak, a hammer and nail just will not do. Oak will require extra help in connecting the pieces together. You will need a drill to start your holes for you. Otherwise you will be beating the nail for a long time with very little movement. If you don’t use the right tools to work with the wood you have selected, you will struggle to get the job done.

             Each of use has been given the tools we need to serve God. He has planned every detail and aspect of our lives out. Our only job is to use the tools He has given us for the task we are doing.  If we are not willing to use the tools He has given us, then we will find it harder to get anything done.  Just as with the solid oak, if you don’t use the drill you will be beating the nail until it bends, and then you have to start over.  Look at the life of Mary.

Read: Luke chapter 1:26-38

Mary was found worthy of God to be used, (Luke 1:28). This tells use that Mary had lived her life in a manner that pleased God. She had used the teachings she had heard and applied them to her daily walk.

..(ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more).

Mary had been willing to use the tools God had given thus far and had used them to please God.

However, she knew that the job she had been ask to do was not possible for her to do alone.

Luke 1:34, Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

The angel then told her of the extra help she would receive from God to accomplish that which God required of her. Luke 1:35, And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Mary then shows her faith in God and accepts the task He had ask of her.  Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. This verse tells us that Mary knew who she belonged to, the handmaid of the Lord. The bible tells us we are not our own (Romans 14:8) but we are the Lord’s.

We should learn from the work of God in Mary’s life to live as Mary did. First, we must be willing to see our life as God’s and not our own. Second, we have to be willing to use the Word of God to guide us in the direction that would please God. Third, we must trust God to give us the extra help we need when we need it and not fear that we cannot do that which He ask us to do. Trusting in His Word…. For with God nothing shall be impossible. Luke 1:37.

He has already given us every tool we need to be successful in life; the Bible and the Holy Spirit. However, we have to be willing to use them to their fullest. It is not enough to know God, and be saved by His grace. We have to be doers and not just hearers of His word (Romans 2:13). We have to be willing to be used of God and apply the things He has given us to our daily lives.