Tuesday, December
4, 2018
What
is a vessel? A vessel is a container
designed to hold something, or a large boat or ship designed to carry something
overseas, or a tube or canal in which body fluid is circulated and conveyed to the
whole body. Man was created as a vessel
designed to contain, carry and convey God!
I
spent a great deal of time researching what it means to be a vessel of
honor. I ran into several blog posts
about being vessels of clay and how God molds and makes us, which is true, and we can’t argue with the potter (Romans
9:20-21). But, go back and read Romans
9:20-21 “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is
molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right
over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and
another for dishonorable use?” We are vessels of clay, but we
are destined for honor and glory.
Continue reading in Romans 9:23… we are vessels
of mercy. God had mercy on us because He
destined us to be His containers!
What
makes us an honorable vessel? Paul tells
Timothy to keep himself pure. God uses
cleansed people who flee from sin and pursue godliness. You get to choose the type of vessel you will
be. Do you want to be a gold or silver
vessel, used for honor, or will you be a cheap clay pot, used for
dishonor?
God
uses evil people for His righteousness.
He used Judas in His plan of putting Jesus on the cross. And Acts 27-28 says, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your
holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along
with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your
purpose predestined to occur.”
Proverbs
16:4 also says, “The Lord has made
everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.”
Please
don’t allow yourself to think, “we are just robots!” We have a choice. We are accountable for our choice – either
become a filthy vessel that God uses for dishonor or a clean vessel that God
uses for honor.
I
have been in a state of what I call ‘stale bread'. I seem to be standing still and not going
anywhere, yet if you know me, I am busier than I was when all my kids were in
school! So what’s going on you ask? I began asking the Lord to show me what was
keeping me from moving forward? I asked
Him what was stopping me from reaching His purpose for my life. I’ll have to admit, it’s taken a long time for
me to understand, but He has been slowly showing me what has been keeping me
unclean.
Whether
or not you are at this point in your life or not, you will come to a point that
you need to go deeper in your relationship with the Lord. Jesus is coming back soon! Are you waiting on
God to do something amazing in your life prior to Jesus’ return? Well then, now is a good time to prepare
yourself to be that honorable vessel that God can use.
You
have to empty yourself before Him and be honest where you are – with
EVERYTHING! God is good and He knows
everything about you, but you have to
come clean before Him yourself.
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test
yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in
you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
2 Corinthians 13:5
I hate to say this, but there are a lot of
people walking this earth on the wide road, and they don’t even know it. And it all because of iniquity.
The Lord knows who is His (2 Timothy
2:19). Iniquity is hidden sin and
wickedness. Most Christians think that
wickedness is only for sinners, yet there Christians who proclaim to know
Christ, yet still choose to do the same evil things that the world does and act
like nothing is wrong with it. We are
supposed to be set apart from the world.
Romans 12:2 warns us, “Do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that
by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable
and perfect”.
It doesn’t matter how long you have been saved,
you have to empty yourself of iniquity or you will not be an honorable vessel
that God can use. Jesus tells us in
Matthew 7:21-23 21 “Not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name
perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them
plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
This
may be the time for you to do a heart check.
If we are to be Christ’s lights on this earth, but you are still playing
with darkness, how do you think others will see the light? If it’s time to go deeper in your
relationship with God, it’s time to let go of things that could hinder you from
becoming an honorable vessel that God can use for His glory.
The
King James Version uses the term purge in verse 2:21. In other words, you and I have to purge
ourselves from anything that is not like the Lord within us as we work towards
doing what He has called us to do. If we
don’t purge, then we hinder our effectiveness.
Sisters,
let me make myself clear here, there is no way around this, you have to pour
yourself out to God and examine your heart before Him on a continual
basis. It is not a one-time deal. If you are honest, there are some things you
already know about, but there might also be some things that may be setting you
back from accomplishing God’s will that you are unaware of. So I encourage you to humble yourself and go
to Him to see if there’s anything hidden within your heart that needs to be
cleansed and purified today. He wants to
make you an honorable vessel that He can use.
But you need to keep the lines of communication open, or you may become
“stale bread”. Or as Paul says, a “cheap
vessel for everyday use”.
I’ll
tell you something, once you rid yourself of the unforgiveness, hatred,
jealousy, backbiting, lustful thoughts, sexual immorality, disobedience, pride,
etc., anything that is displeasing to the Lord, He cannot use you until you
come to Him with a clean heart. God has
a purpose for your life, but you cannot do it with a full heart – full of
things that you know are displeasing to the Lord.
Gold
and silver will never disintegrate – clay will return to dust. As we begin this advent season and we prepare
for the coming of Immanuel, let us purge our hearts and become the gold and
silver vessels that can carry Christ to others.