"In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use.
21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work"
This is Paul talking to Timothy, asking him to keep himself pure and Holy and fit for the Master's use. I've heard this scripture quoted so often but i've really never heard it explained in this way before...
Paul talks about utensils made of gold and silver and some of wood and clay. First things first, lets distinguish between the elements and make up of these utensils....Gold and Silver are refined metals that have been purified in fire. Wood and Clay cannot even be tested in thesame degree of heat that Gold and Silver would be tested in....if u threw a wooden spoon in fire, it would burn to ashes. So Paul says, if u keep yourself pure, you will be like the Gold utensil that has been tried in fire. You will be like the beautiful Gold utensils that are used for honorable purposes. Which leads to my question: HOW DO YOU KNOW A UTENSIL OF HONOR??? IS IT BY ITS MONETARY VALUE OR BY ITS ABILITY TO BE USED BY THE MASTER???
In my house, there are these very special dinner sets that we have displayed on our dining table....The plates are Versace plates...the cutleries (silver ware) are by Christofle and are actually one of a kind Silver-Plated Gold...they are so fancy, we have them decorating the table.
Typically, people would expect that those plates were the "Most Honored" among our dish sets but just the other day, as I sat at my kitchen counter watching my mum cook lunch, the Holy Spirit began to show me that even the trash can was more honored than those plates because it served the purpose for which it was created. These name brand fancy plates, however, were useless because they don't fulfill their function.
All they do is sit at the table looking like someone is ready to use them all day, all week, all year long - but no one ever lifts the fork. They were designed to hold food but they are so expensive that we don't use them. They've been there so long that no one even remembers that they are a FULL SET of plates that can actually be used. Rather than eat with them, they have become dining table decor. Here's the amazing thing; MANY OF OUR LIVES ARE THAT WAY!
We look like we could be used by God but have exalted ourselves so much in our hearts that we serve no other purpose to the Kingdom of God but decor and in the end of the day, we become nothing but dead weight. Being a vessel of honor does not require you to be the best speaker, the best singer, the best producer, the best teacher or evangelist. It just requires that you be the MOST YIELDED.........Purity is an outcome of yieldedness. Its an outcome of sacrifice to the one to which you have yielded and that purity makes us vessels fit for the Master's use.
hmm....I may be pushing some buttons at this point but believe me WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER...So let's truly ask: "AM I A VESSEL OF HONOR THAT IS FIT FOR THE MASTER'S USE?"
Typically, people would expect that those plates were the "Most Honored" among our dish sets but just the other day, as I sat at my kitchen counter watching my mum cook lunch, the Holy Spirit began to show me that even the trash can was more honored than those plates because it served the purpose for which it was created. These name brand fancy plates, however, were useless because they don't fulfill their function.
All they do is sit at the table looking like someone is ready to use them all day, all week, all year long - but no one ever lifts the fork. They were designed to hold food but they are so expensive that we don't use them. They've been there so long that no one even remembers that they are a FULL SET of plates that can actually be used. Rather than eat with them, they have become dining table decor. Here's the amazing thing; MANY OF OUR LIVES ARE THAT WAY!
We look like we could be used by God but have exalted ourselves so much in our hearts that we serve no other purpose to the Kingdom of God but decor and in the end of the day, we become nothing but dead weight. Being a vessel of honor does not require you to be the best speaker, the best singer, the best producer, the best teacher or evangelist. It just requires that you be the MOST YIELDED.........Purity is an outcome of yieldedness. Its an outcome of sacrifice to the one to which you have yielded and that purity makes us vessels fit for the Master's use.
hmm....I may be pushing some buttons at this point but believe me WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER...So let's truly ask: "AM I A VESSEL OF HONOR THAT IS FIT FOR THE MASTER'S USE?"
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