Broken tools

Talk to any person who works with tools, be they a carpenter, auto-mechanic, computer repair technician, avionics engineer, or home-handyman; they will all say the same thing… a good operator will always keep his or her tools in A1 “tip-top” condition. There is an old saying “A workman is only as good as his tools”. A busted drill or electric saw is about as useful as a sail on motorbike. A hammer with a broken shaft is handy as a sinker for a fishing line or a door stop, but that’s about all.

An axe that has “lost its edge” requires double the effort to cut firewood, a chainsaw with its chain on backwards will still cut, but the exertion needed by the operator makes the use of the motor redundant.   

C. H. Spurgeon said, in an essay to his students… “We are, in a sense, our own tools, and therefore must keep ourselves in order.” What wonderful advice!

C H Spurgeon

We, who would seek to be an example to the world, must first be an example to ourselves. If we want to preach, we must train our thought processes… we can only think with our own brain, speak with our own voice, react with our own emotions. Likewise if we want to teach, what good is a library of the finest books if we neglect to teach ourselves first?  

Spurgeon, in the same essay, related an incident that happened to him on a train journey from Perth to Edinburgh, Scotland. The train suddenly came to screeching halt, and was eventually forced to continue its trip at a snail’s pace. Why? A tiny screw, connecting two piston rods had broken, rendering almost all of the power generated by a mighty steam engine useless. Do you remember the tragic loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger, and her seven crewmembers in 1986? What was it that felled that mighty bird just 73 seconds into its flight? A $1.00 elastomer “O” ring available at just about any hardware shop, failed, allowing massive quantities of explosive fuel into the rocket engines.     

The unhappy story of Uzza(h) is related in 1 Chronicles 13:9-12 and 2 Samuel 6:6-8 Uzza attempted to stop the ark of God from falling out of an ox-cart when it was being transported from the house of Abinadab. Surely the right thing to do? Not according to God’s precise instructions laid out in Numbers 4:15.

And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set forward, then after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it. But they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. These are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.  Numbers 4:15  

It was NOT permissible to touch the Holy things of God. The penalty for doing so (even with the very best of intentions) was death! Personal holiness is not something we hear much about these days…yet it is a prerequisite if we are to disciple and lead others; mere lukewarm moral excellence is not good enough.

The absence of “bad behavior” or what I call “positive negative behavior” will not “cut the mustard”… we must be bright shining lights, otherwise we become like ambassadors who dishonor the country they represent. It’s not enough to have people apologize for swearing or using foul language around us, or saving their “off-color” jokes until we leave the room; we need to shine such a powerful searchlight into their hearts that they cling to us, asking “what must we do to be saved”

Jesus said “Therefore be perfect, (complete, fully mature with a solid moral character) even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” Mathew 5:48  AMP

He reinforced that bold statement with these words…“For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 5:20

Our lives should be magnets that draw others to Christ, mirrors that reflect the glory of God.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.    

2 Corinthians 3:18  NASB