Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life. | Saint Francis
On Sunday, Andrew preached on using the right tools. He told a great story about trying to use a 12″ crescent wrench to remove a 1/4″ screw. His point was: we can live this life outside of God’s intended purpose, but it isn’t going to work well. You have to live as you were intended to get the most out of this life.
This idea has been hijacked by motivational speaker Christianity to say: as a unique creation, you have to find the way of living that best fits with who you are. In this, the understanding of how you are meant to live shifts from being contained in God’s order to being contained within your individuality. Who God created you to be, then, can not be determined by anyone other than you.
This creates some problems: it makes truth subjective, it makes any point of view other than your own a threat, and it puts the onus on others to recognize your giftedness and to honor and support it. It puts you at the mercy of others for meaning; you can only truly use your tools if others give you the opportunities and the praise that you feel you deserve. Most of the time they don’t, and it makes you miserable. Too many Christians live an unfilled life with the perspective that the reason they aren’t used properly is because their potential goodness is not noticed by others. The solution is: for others to acknowledge your gifts.
The prayer of Saint Francis offers a different solution (and a different problem). He sees the problem of misuse existing because of his own sin…the ways that he is out of alignment with God. Using the right tool is not about finding the right place to use your already developed tool, but sharpening your dull blade. His prayer is that God refine and use him, not in the ways that are easy for him, but in the things he would never consider doing on his own. He is not asking God to acknowledge his usefulness, but to make him useful.
I pray that we adopt a similar tone; that we approach God, not as an instrument deserving to be played, but in humility asking him to make us for His purposes. It is only then that we can find the meaning we all desire, not in ourselves, but in relation to His grace.
I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am. | John Newton