Violins and dignity

I read the other day that a contestant on a popular quiz show, you know the one -- where one of the options is to "call a friend" (it is soooo popular, I don't even know it's name, but I'm sure you all do); in any case, the option was chosen because the contestant obviously did not know who Joshua Bell was!

Mr. Bell was playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in London a few weeks ago (I managed to listen in "live" on the Internet) and heard a fascinating discussion about how the latest security issues have hampered musicians engaging in air-travel. A priceless Stradivarius violin, the kind that Mr. Bell plays, is not something you want to put "in the hold".

Which makes me think:

A Stradivarius violin made by cutting and sanding and glueing various kinds of wood enters into its glory when, after an aging process, a violinist of the calibre of Mr. Bell makes it sing. The true glory of any instrument comes when it is doing what it is made for. It gains its dignity and worth by showing us what it can do.

And we were made for worship. Only as we do so do we display the dignity for which we were designed. Sin, on the other is "to fall short of the glory" (Rom. 3:23). Only as sin is removed (by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone) can we truly glorify God and be what we were meant to be.