"In a large house there are vessels not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. 22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
2 Timothy 2:20-22
Gold & silver or wood & clay...I know which one i'd rather pick.
Vessels are objects designed for the purpose of holding, or containing something. Here, in 2 Timothy, Paul uses an illustration of vessels in a house. I know that my house contains many vessels. For example, a vase to put flowers in, a glass to put a drink in, I even have a penguin hot water bottle to put hot water in. But along with all of those there is also the toilet that all the waste goes in, the rubbish bin where all our rubbish goes, and the sock bin with a multitude of odd socks (pet hate)! So even in my own home, I see that some vessels are for honorable use and some are for dishonorable use.
God has chosen us to be His living vessels. But, because He loves us, He will never force us to be used by Him. He has given us the choice. As vessels, we are designed to be filled. It is up to us what we fill ourselves with. We can either choose for God to fill us by His Holy Spirit and be used for noble purposes or we can choose to be filled with the ways of the world and used for ignoble purposes. The choice is as simple as that.
Ask yourself this; what are you storing in yourself? We are constantly inputting into ourselves - through our eyes and ears. So to fill ourselves with Him we are to read our bibles and fill ourselves with the Word. We are to be in fellowship with God and learn how to have His heart and mind.
However, it's important that we are first clean. As a dirty bowl would contaminate any food put in it, we will contaminate any good thing God wants to use us for if we are not first clean and holy. We do this by getting rid of the 'self'. We die to ourselves and let Christ live in us because the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all unrighteousness. By denying ourselves every day and choosing to be filled with Him we are preparing ourselves to be filled and used by God whenever he wants to use us.
So it all comes down to this; do you want to be a vase or a toilet?
The only thing that makes them what they are is what goes in them. So cleanse yourself from all unrighteousness so that you can be a useful vessel of honour for the purposes of God.
God has chosen us to be His living vessels. But, because He loves us, He will never force us to be used by Him. He has given us the choice. As vessels, we are designed to be filled. It is up to us what we fill ourselves with. We can either choose for God to fill us by His Holy Spirit and be used for noble purposes or we can choose to be filled with the ways of the world and used for ignoble purposes. The choice is as simple as that.
Ask yourself this; what are you storing in yourself? We are constantly inputting into ourselves - through our eyes and ears. So to fill ourselves with Him we are to read our bibles and fill ourselves with the Word. We are to be in fellowship with God and learn how to have His heart and mind.
However, it's important that we are first clean. As a dirty bowl would contaminate any food put in it, we will contaminate any good thing God wants to use us for if we are not first clean and holy. We do this by getting rid of the 'self'. We die to ourselves and let Christ live in us because the blood of Jesus cleanses us of all unrighteousness. By denying ourselves every day and choosing to be filled with Him we are preparing ourselves to be filled and used by God whenever he wants to use us.
So it all comes down to this; do you want to be a vase or a toilet?
The only thing that makes them what they are is what goes in them. So cleanse yourself from all unrighteousness so that you can be a useful vessel of honour for the purposes of God.
This is good Amy.
ReplyDeleteChallenging!