No instrument is as important as you

By: Carole L. Haines

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.
(Acts 9:15)

Our son invited the Young Adult group from our church over for a bonfire last night.  It was a wonderfully noisy house for about 4 hours. I loved it, like having all three of our children back home with all their friends, like it once was. My husband has a recording studio upstairs, and one of the girls asked if she could play some of his instruments. He said, “Sure!” She asked, “Are there any you don’t want me to touch?’ He said, “Nope! Have at it!” She picked up the twelve-string guitar, and being old, with old strings; as she played, one of the strings broke. She came downstairs so apologetic. It took some convincing from us that it was not a problem at all, it happens all the time. She insisted on taking the string off for us, and offered to replace it. We said it was not necessary, we had a lot of extra strings. We just kept telling her how much the instrument didn’t matter. We wanted her to know it was her that we valued, way more than the instrument.

No instrument can make music on its own. No guitar or piano can play itself. It needs to be placed in the hands of a person, in order to bring forth sound. Whenever we first start off learning something new, it takes practice and time to develop the skill and expertise to do it well. Whether it’s a sport, music, art, writing, math; whatever it is, it takes time.  What I really wanted this precious girl to know was that no instrument was as important as her. She is the valuable one, an eternal child of God, an image bearer of The King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The guitar, though loved by us, was just a piece of wood with strings that could do nothing on its own. 

God values us like that. We’ve really messed up His Beautiful Creation, in so many ways. We have corrupted the Crowning Jewel of His Heart, ourselves. Jesus created us, He spoke us into existence. (Colossians 3:13-20, John 1) He knew we would fail Him, sin, and ultimately cost Him the horrific trial of Gethsemane and the Cross. But He created us because He loves us. We are the instruments that He chooses to work through to reach the world. No instrument, no program, outreach, or ministry is as important as the people God has placed there. No instrument is as important as you, to God. Surrender fully to His skillful hands and let Him play His Song in and through your life.

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.  (Acts 9:15 NASB)