(Isa 2:4 KJV) And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
All tools can be used for good (productivity and life) or evil (consumption and death).
A knife in the hand of a faithful man can remove a bullet, while a knife in the hand of a fearful man is just a weapon.
Tools are just extensions of our bodies and our minds, which in themselves are just tools in the hands of our maker… What is the difference between a robot slave (computer server) and a human slave or servant… the purpose of both is to serve their master and the greater good…. unless created in isolation and ignorance…
All tools are a means to an end, they should not be an end in themselves… seeing tools as an end in themselves… is the very nature of ‘sin’. A plough is made to plough the land so that seed can be sown, so that crops can grow and preserve this thing called life with sustenance… Our tools wear out… just as men grow weary, old and die.
One does not make a plough to hang in the barn and embellish it with symbols.
Yet today more than ever, humanity has become obsessed and idolatrous of its tools and weapons… No longer a means of protection, weapons have become a means of entertainment and sport... No longer a means of travel from place to place, vehicles have become overpriced toys for the rich who can afford them… And always at our neighbours expense.
Men especially are obsessed with their tools and their toys… oftentimes sexual substitutes… men gain pleasure from their tool like extensions. And the pleasure is an important release from the pain and the pressure of working day to day… that …”all work and no play” makes jack more than a dull boy, it makes him frustrated, depressed and suicidal.
We invent tools to takes some of the hard yakka out of the work we have to do, tools provide leverage - ideally to make our work lighter… Oftentimes over-tinkering with our tools has made them so complex they have become obstacles to getting the work done…. So what is the work that we are undertaking anyway and why?
Many of my uncles, ‘all deceased’ spent most of their lives down the pit… that is they were employed by someone else to mine coal, digging coal out from deep under the ground BY HAND with basic tools of picks and shovels… and for what????
Primarily they did it for ‘love’, so they could buy food and clothing and pay for a home for their families… they were forced to use tools to earn the ‘tool’ that is money to leverage their lives in this world. No man in his right mind would spend his days underground to survive, digging and breathing in the coal dust… rest assured they did for their loved ones. Yet when the pits closed instead of celebrating, they complained, because it was all they knew how to live…This begs the question… are we just being TOOLS, when we willingly give ourselves over like this, to be used by our masters?
(John 8:34-36 KJV) Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
TOOLS (PART 2)