“Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory
for ever and ever. Amen.” – Hebrews 13:21
No matter what you’re working on, or what you’re working toward;
every job is easier with the proper tool.
Growing up, my Pops would tell me this quite a lot. It is both simple and insightful instruction
(all good instruction is). When you go
to drive a nail, there is no tool as suited for it as a hammer. When you wish to turn a Philips head screw,
the best thing to use is, no surprise here, a Philip’s head screw driver. The work, works, when you have the right
tool.
I once heard a preacher say “the book of Hebrews is the book of
better things.” I could not agree
more. The book of Hebrews is all about
better things: a better word of promise, a better priest, a better sacrifice,
and a better covenant. The reason for
all the better is Jesus. Jesus was the
redemption consolidator. In the old
covenant you needed a priest, fire, an altar, and a sacrifice to obtain
redemption. Jesus came and he
consolidated all that. He was the great
high priest; he was also, the sacrifice, who sent the fire, and because of all
that you can make an alter anywhere and call on God anytime. Jesus took the plan of salvation and
streamlined it. In doing so, Jesus was
given authority over: sin and death.
Jesus has authority over sin and death.
If you wished to be justified and sanctified or sanctified and
justified; to accomplish this you must come through his blood and follow His
will; for your good, and benefit. The
good Father gives instruction to the child for the benefit of the child, and so
our heavenly Father gives instruction.
Our understanding of this instruction is secondary to our obeying
it. God wants to bring you to a place
where you want what Jesus wanted while here on earth; “to do always the will of the Father.” This is sanctification in a nutshell (in my
opinion); the Holy Ghost, within a cleansed heart, leading it to do always the
will of the Father and his son Jesus Christ.
All other things in life fall secondary to this primary focus. The inward work on the heart is good, right,
and perfect. However, the work is ongoing,
because of the human condition. There are
still shortcomings and misplaced steps associated with simply being in this
body of flesh, and it needs a master craftsmen who is both the builder and the
tool. As Ezekiel prophesied to Israel “Hath not the potter power over the clay?……behold
I will work a work on a wheel.”
Jesus Christ is
the master craftsmen who is both the builder and the tool. It is through himself that he perfects us to
do his will. Like the potter, within
himself are the tools to fashion us into that which he would have us to be. He looks down at the clay and sees the end
result; while all other look and see only a lump. If we are obedient, then he is ever “working in us that which is well pleasing
in his sight.” The purpose of
conviction is to draw you to a place of repentance, and ultimately into
sanctification. The purpose of chastisement,
exhortation, reprove, rebuke, etc. Is to
fashion you into the total image of what Christ would have you to be. Your heart’s desire may be too fix everyone
in the world, only to stop and realize one day that it’s not your job to fix
everyone, but it is your job to help everyone.
Sometimes, we move in this walk with God with benevolent ambition, only
to understand later the ambition was well place, but the movement was not. That understanding comes from God, it is
grace, we need grace, and we need the working of Christ through Christ in our
lives; to be constantly perfected, by the working, to do His will.
The bottom line is this: Jesus is the perfect tool and the
perfect carpenter for building us up in the faith. He can chasten, correct, and guide like know
other; he can do far more with a willing heart than a complacent spirit.
