Pack Up Your Tools

“If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.” (Exodus 20:25)

 God’s altar was to be constructed of uncut stones without having been worked by human hands; without human effort.  Our effort does nothing to contribute to our salvation; it is totally God’s doing.  It is his unconditional gift to each and every one of us.  How easy it is for us to believe the notion that there is something we can do to affect that end result of our salvation.  It is God’s gift to us.  If it had anything to do with our effort, it would not have been a gift. 

 As soon as we put forth the effort to “dress the stones” in our relationship with God, we open the doors to many things: the ways of the world, a prideful heart, idolatry, boasting, control, fear, irreverence, or unbelief.   We each have our own things.  You can go ahead and add to the list.  What more can we add to the life of Jesus Christ as he hung on the cross and said “it is finished”? (John 19:29)

 Pack up your tools.  Don’t try to chisel at your relationship with God.  His saving grace, unconditional love, and perfect word are there for us.  They are all we need.

 “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” (Romans 9:16)