REFLECTIONS

God’s Instruments

We can think of lots of them. God has everything at his disposal to use as instruments for his purposes. We think of the ark Noah built as a sanctuary for the forms of life God created when the world began. We think of the burning bush that captured Moses’ attention in the wilderness when it didn’t burn away. Then there’s the parting of the Red Sea and the time the sun stood still for Joshua; and the list of supernatural instruments goes on. But the most common instruments don’t seem supernatural at all. They are the ordinary people like you and me.

It’s easy to think of our smallness in contrast to the whole of mankind—one among an untold number of people who have passed through this world since its creation. Our lives seem minuscule even when measured against the heroes and heroines captured by name in the annals of history. But are our lives really insignificant in the grand scheme of things? Perhaps, no one has stirred insights into that question more than the English poet, John Donne, when he posed the captivating idea that:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent.  

Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind;

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

In this world, we stand together upon a platform that’s much like a trampoline. When one moves, the platform moves causing others to move with it at least in some small way. Those movements shape our lives into the persons we are or will become. But we don’t simply stand idly awaiting to be moved by someone else. We move about on our own as well. No man is an island. Our every movement is a bridge into the lives around us just as their lives bridge into ours. In such a way, your life and mine are among God’s instruments that shape the lives of those around us for good or ill. But as Donne suggested, we are diminished when some part of mankind fails. So, offer the parts of your body to him as an instrument of righteousness.

Or maybe expressed another way, in all we do…

Reflect the Savior.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

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