p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545; min-height: 14.0px} span.s1 {direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: bidi-override}When I turned 18 years old, I bought my first guitar. It was a big day! I was the proud owner of a Taylor 414-CE. It was the best sounding acoustic guitar I had ever heard-a truly glorious instrument. And I played that guitar hard. I had already been leading worship since I was a young teen, but I never had a guitar of my own. I had to borrow from my dad or other musicians. That Taylor guitar has served me well. I used it to lead worship for meeting after meeting at my home church in Montana, at conferences around the USA, and even overseas. It was my faithful instrument for over 2,000 worship sets. (If I hadn't also used my electric guitar, that number would be even higher.) I used it to record 7 worship albums and multiple singles.But after 14 years of playing it hard, my guitar was just not doing well. Through such constant use, I had worn down the metal frets to almost nothing. I burned through two pickups. It started sounding awful, being nearly impossible for me to tune. When I tried taking it to local repair shops in Montana, nobody could help. So I decided to send my guitar back to the Taylor Guitars headquarters. My guitar was created with a glorious sound, but it was so worn down that it was falling far short of what it was meant to be. The best thing I could do was to get my guitar back to its maker. (They have special services packages just for guitars like mine called the "Refresh" and "Renew" services.)The reality is that the exact same thing happens to us as people. We were dreamed up in the heart of God to be full of splendor, to be displays of His glorious workmanship. We have been fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139). But along the way, we get banged up. We get used. We get pressed hard. And we have an enemy whose entire goal is to wear us down (Daniel 7:25). And it is at this point that Satan hits us the hardest with his accusations-when we are at the lowest of our lows, when we're at the end of our rope. He tells us that there's nothing good about us. He tells us that we're incapable of doing anything right. He tells us that we've lost any worth we had. Nobody would ever want us or love us, and surely God is disappointed and would never use us again. But nothing could be further from the truth. God is not surprised at our weakness or tiredness. "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:13-14, NIV). When my guitar was sounding its worst-and getting worse with each passing day-I didn't throw it away. I gave it back to its maker, because the maker knows the inner workings of this guitar from the inside out. The maker knows just how to refresh, restore, and renew the guitar. And the maker knows something that many others don't: an aged guitar will always sound better than a new guitar off the shelf. The aging of the wood causes it to take on a tone and beauty that new guitars cannot even begin to match. It's not by chance that you're reading this right now. Your Maker has been trying to get your attention for a long time. You are intimately acquainted with everything that is wrong with you, with the ways that you're not living up to your full potential. And try as you may, the only way that you will be able to live in the full splendor you were born to be is to spend time with your Maker. The God who formed you from the dust is the one "who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psalm 103:3-5).It's time for you to stop listening to the opinions of other people about what's wrong with you. It's time for you to stop believing the lies that there's no hope for you. Your Maker has already PLANNED OUT a pathway for you toward a life of hope, future, and prosperity (Jeremiah 29:11). You'll never find it on your own or through any other voice or any other path-only His. (Other guitar shops couldn't help my guitar, but the maker of my guitar knows just what to do.)Mahesh Chavda once taught about our lives in comparison to an iPhone. When the battery gets low, it doesn't work as well. It gets slower. And at some point, the battery may get so low that the iPhone shuts off and won't do anything you want it to. But it would be absolutely absurd to throw it away! It's not worthless. In fact, there's not even anything wrong with it. It just has a dead battery and needs to be recharged. Once you plug it back into the power, and after you let it remain connected to that power for a while, suddenly the iPhone works just as good as new. The same is true for guitars, and the same is true for you. Don't trash your life. Don't beat yourself up just because you're worn down. If you're tired, you need to be recharged! If you're struggling with addiction and sin, you need to connect with the Maker who has compassion on you, the power to change you, and a better destiny for you. He is not giving up on you or me! "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). And even when you feel like you've blown it, if you'll come running to Him, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).And this is where the guitar and iPhone analogies fall far short of explaining how much God is really trying to get your attention. You see, God isn't just your Maker. He made you because He loves You. He loves you so much that He uses the covenant words of marriage to describe the kind of love and commitment He has toward you. "Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband-the Lord Almighty is his name-the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back..." (Isaiah 54:4-6).The answer for your life will always stay the same: spending quality time with your Maker. He made you, He understands the depths of who you are-because He made who you are and He LOVES who you are. You're not trash if you're worn down. You just need to go back to your Maker and let Him restore and refresh you. I hope you'll do that today.If you're looking for ways to connect with God, I invite you to join me at my church, The River, this Sunday at 10am or at any of our other gatherings where we are passionately pursuing more of God and experiencing His love truth, love, and power.
