THE MUSICAL BEGGAR

“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, 

giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

“Work willingly at whatever you do, 

as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people”

Colossians 3:17, 23

I would like to share a story my dad used to tell me when I was younger. Every time I heard this story it brought conviction to my heart and challenged me to work hard for the things I wanted. This is the story of a man who reflected defeat just in the way he dressed and in the mediocre way he acted. So here it goes...

Once upon a time in Paris, there was a man sitting on the side of a main street, smelly and scary looking. This man played an old violin. In front of him, he placed his hat, hoping people would stop to not only listen to him play but to also give him a few coins. This poor man was trying to create a beautiful melody out of this old violin, only his violin was completely out of tune. The way he handled and play his violin was boring and displeasing for other people to see. The violin reflected what once was a beautiful instrument, but all of its beauty was hidden under the dust and dirt that had built up on its once-shiny features.  

One day, a famous violin player and his family and friends passed by the miserable musician after leaving the theater. When they heard the poor man play, everyone made faces from hearing the horrendous and displeasing sounds that this man was producing. They couldn’t help but to laugh. However, the wife of the famous violinist asked her husband to play a piece with the violin that this poor man was playing with. The violinist took a peak of the man’s hat on the floor and saw very few coins so he decided to do something for him. This famous violin player asked the man on the street if he could borrow his violin and the man, with some hesitation, let him borrow it. The very first thing the violinist did was to clean the violin and bring back its former beauty. He then took time to tune the strings on the violin. As he held the violin in his hands, he smiled, took a stance of great posture, and with much enthusiasm, he began to play a beautiful melody that made people passing by stop to hear him play. His friends began to applaud and cheer and people began to gather around to hear the improvised concert. In a matter of minutes, the man’s hat was overflowing not only with coins but also with bills. While the violinist continued to play, the poor man began to jump for joy and shouted, “Hey everybody, that’s my violin, that’s my violin, he borrowed it from me. It sounds beautiful right?” This poor man was absolutely right. The violin was his. The poor man had never been so happy.

Life gives everyone a “violin.” This violin represents our knowledge, our abilities to do things, our attitudes, and our words. We have the absolute freedom to play this “violin” however we want it. From the creation of man, God has given us free will to decide how we are going to live our lives and the decisions we make. Unfortunately, some of us waste the talents, abilities and creativity that God has given us because we are lazy or unwilling to give our 100 percent, to tune our "violin" and to develop our skill. Some of us don’t take time to pray and seek God but then ask God to do everything for us. We want to be professional violinists and perform well and we expect to do this in a matter of hours or days when, in reality, sometimes it takes years of practice, dedication, and sacrifice. But many of use are simply consumers, unwilling to give anything away in order to be great at what we do. We all must understand that the best and highest places are for those that not only clean and tune their violin well, but also sacrifice their time to learn it and to master it. This is why we must work hard at everything we do since God has given us the abilities to do it.

I believe this is one of the reasons Colossians 3:17 says that whatever we do, we must do it as though working for the Lord. In other words, whether we are worship leaders, pastors, janitors, plumbers, carpenters —you name it— we must do our work as though we are working for our King. Let us always remember that we serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I do not want to be in His presence and play a dirty, out-of-tune violin just because I didn’t want to put in my effort and time. 

It is true that sometimes we don’t have all of the resources right in front of us to push us along. Some have more resources than others. However, there have been people that have had the resources, the money, and everything they needed to become the best “violinists” in this world but, because of their poor choices, ended up on the streets playing an out-of-tune violin with no purpose and no goals. It takes using what we have and practicing our unique skills to the best of our abilities. We will prosper if we take the time, the effort, and the sacrifice to learn how to use and fine-tune our skills; most importantly, we will prosper when we do all these things with a whole-hearted attitude of dedication and humility. 

I want God to be able to say to me, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” I know that God has given me talents and gifts — one of them being a leader of worship and bringing others into his presence. In order to do that, I must pray, fast, read His word, and be in tune with his spirit. I cannot expect people’s hearts to be change just because I sing and play through a song. I need time to pray and the dedication to master my “violin” or my instrument so that every time I play it, my Lord can be pleased with my melody. I know that there are things in my life I will sacrifice in order to do my best in serving God this way. I know that in order to see things I have never seen, then I must do things I have never done. I cannot expect the presence of God to manifest itself in my life if I, myself, never seek him. 

May God help us to make good choices. May we give God the glory in everything we do, for whatever we do, we must do it unto the Lord.

Israel
italamantes@b4church.org