Vessels unto Honour

In a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but others of wood and earth, and some which are honoured and some without honour.  If a man makes himself clean from these, he will be a vessel for honour, made holy, ready for the master’s use, ready for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2: 20-22)

Introduction: Many Christians wish and pray that God will use them more; but the key to God’s heart is not just prayer, it includes obedience and faithfulness. If you want to be used of God, learn to be self-controlled in all things, obey the word of God, keep yourself pure and be faithful in all the tasks you are involved in. Moreover, be conscious that God has his timetable of events and you cannot dictate the time to start his assignment. Keep yourself fresh in spirit, mind and body so that whenever he needs you, you are fit and ready for his use.  

Run, don’t crawl away from sin

God knows that some of his children still fall into sin that is why he gave the injunction in the passage above that we should make ourselves clean and be made holy, ready for the master’s use, ready for every good work. Flee from lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. That means you have to actively avoid sin by walking in Spirit and denying the flesh (Gal 5:16). Then you should also actively get involved in spiritual activities that will make you closer to God. You cannot stay neutral and expect God to use you.

I had an interesting experience among some of my students at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos a few days ago. I wanted to investigate an issue and needed truthful students to assist me; therefore, I asked them to mention three people who always tell the truth. Three names were suggested without any controversy. I thank God, the three of them are Christians but there were many born again children of God in that class whose names were not mentioned. If you were in that class, would others have mentioned your name, would you have been counted worthy of use that day? Those three were ready to be used because they had kept themselves pure, free of lies.

Keeping yourself away from sin makes you prepared and ready for every good work. For example, when people offend you and you decide not to retaliate, you are only doing yourself a favour, keeping yourself approved unto God, ready and fit for the masters’ use.

A furious person full of offence cannot be used of God. Anytime you allow the Holy Spirit to work on your life to remove the things that God hates, you are preparing yourself to be of better use in the hands of God. The vessels that will be used for greater things are the ones that are purged of all kinds of evil. If you sin and pray for forgiveness, God will forgive you but if you don’t desist from that way of life, you would lose some opportunities of being used by Him; hence, losing rewards here and in heaven.