Welcome to Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

1 Corinthians 9:16

Play It

In the early 1900's, there was a man by the name of Fritz Kreisler. Fritz Kreisler was a superb violinist. On one particular day, however, he was facing a terrible disappointment. Some time before, he had discovered a violin that made exquisite sound. He dearly wanted to have it. But the violin was expensive, and so Fritz carefully saved up money to buy it. When he arrived to make the purchase, however, he discovered that a wealthy man had bought it simply to add to his collection of rare violins.

Fritz went to the man's home. There was the violin, on display, but silent. The man, proud of his new purchase, refused even to consider selling it. Fritz turned to leave, but then he had an idea. He asked the man if he could play it. The man agreed. Fritz picked up the instrument and began to play. What flowed from that violin stunned its owner. So beautiful and moving was the music that the man finally blurted out, "I have no right to keep that to myself." Then he said, "It's yours, Mr. Kreisler. Take it into the world, and let people hear it."

There are times when you and I assume we are doing all the right things with the message of the gospel. We treat it reverently. We preserve it. We put it on display so we can admire it from time to time. We tell ourselves how fortunate we are to have it when so many others do not. And then we don't “play” it—we don’t listen to the wonderful sound of its beautiful message and take it to heart.

When we don't, we rob ourselves of the peace God wants us to have through his word. We rob ourselves of the assurance of forgiveness in Christ that the gospel gives. We fill ourselves with empty silence instead of the fullness of Jesus.

Play it. Let the gospel ring out. Listen to the sound of your Savior's voice. And take it into the world.