rebelbase Woodley

This is a picture of Willie Nelson’s 30 year old Martin guitar.  It has a hole the size of a dollar bill in it and names carved all over what is left of the top. You can tell by looking at this guitar that it is well used.  It stands in stark contrast to my guitar which sits in my closet and looks as new and un-played as the day I bought it aside from the corroded strings.  After several half-hearted attempts to learn to play I have not even picked up my guitar in six months.  So what deep Truth can be learned from this look at two very different guitars?  My wife put it this way, “the guitar isn’t doing anyone any good sitting in the closet”…

This statement got me thinking.  How many things in my life are just sitting in the closet not doing anyone any good?  I think of the obvious physical possessions in my house that collect dust along with my guitar that if they were given to someone else may actually be used for what they were intended.  I wonder if it would be better stewardship if I were to give these things away rather than waste them in my closets, attic, or garage. 

Then there are the Spiritual gifts God has given me that I have yet to even open let alone learned to use for His glory.  It is easier to focus on the physical, monetary, material things and say I am giving the right amount of money or time to God’s service, but how much more meaningful can all of those be when we are not just giving or doing but blessing others with the overflow of God’s Spirit in us not just our overflowing checkbook.  When I stand before God I hope to look like Willie’s guitar; all battered and carved up because of the years of hard service for the Kingdom.