I remember speaking with a friend of mine shortly before he went on stage to perform in a talent contest. He was going to play his guitar and sing. He told me that he didn’t remember how long it had been since he had put a new set of strings on his guitar, and he was having trouble getting it to sound right.

Finally, he got the guitar tuned, just in time for him to take the stage. His performance was wonderful! He made those old strings sound fantastic! My friend actually won the contest, even with a guitar that was inferior to those used by others in the competition. In the hands of a lesser musician, the guitar would have sounded terrible. However, my friend’s skill had brought out the best in the instrument.

We Christians need to remember that we are simply instruments in the hands of God. His power can overcome any shortcomings—real or imagined—that might lead to a poor performance. In our own hands, our lives are out of tune. But in the skillful hands of the Master, we can make beautiful music!

“Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.”—Romans 6:13.