Instruments Useful to the Master

When I was a boy, I had a variety of answers when someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up.

"I want to be a pilot in the Air Force," I said, until I discovered that my eyesight wasn't good enough to qualify. "I want to be a farmer like my dad," I said, but the feeble tomato plants in my garden proved I could never match Dad's green thumb. "I want to be a professional athlete or a musician," I privately mused, but I wasn't blessed with the skill to realize those dreams.

Web Master

Today there's a career choice available that my generation never considered when we were young. Many large companies, and quite a few churches, employ a person called a Web master. An intriguing title, don't you think? And mysterious-sounding. A little scary. "The Web master." Twenty years ago, it might have meant a comic book character—an evil villain Spiderman had to defeat.

Frankly, I still find Web masters a bit mysterious. I'm happy to let them navigate the high-tech world of "e-this" and "e-that," helping the rest of us advertise products and communicate with business clients and church members.

I don't know about you, but I have not mastered all the new technology. I can't fix your computer any more than I can fly a plane or play football in the NFL. My calling is to communicate God's Word through preaching, teaching, writing, and leadership. However, I admire the skill of those who use technology to spread the gospel and build up the church.

World Master

Technological marvels are not outside the mastery of Christ.

Jesus is the Master Carpenter. He built a bridge from Heaven to earth with two boards and three nails.

He is the Master Communicator. There's a computer program called WordPerfect, but Christ is the perfect Word, the Logos, God's ultimate message to the world. Two thousand years after he uttered them, Jesus' stories and sermons, prayers and parables remain timely and relevant, full of spiritual power.

He is the Master Counselor. His Spirit comforts, his Word guides, and his ear heeds our prayers 24 hours a day. "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear."

He is the Master Creator. "All things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16, 17). Look through a microscope and you can see his creative genius in the intricate structure of a human cell and the soft splendor of a rose petal. Look through a telescope and behold how "the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands" (Psalm 19:1). The marvels of 21st century technology do not surprise the One who created electricity, organized the atom, and designed the human brain.

Are you still trying to figure out exactly what to do when you grow up? Most of us haven't mastered the Christian life, but then, Christ himself is the only one qualified to be the Master of us all. Let's make it our goal to "be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). And let's make sure Christ is the Master over our hearts, our careers—and even our computers.