A Special Utensil

2 Timothy 2:20-26

20 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.

22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

23 Again I say, don’t get involved in foolish, ignorant arguments that only start fights. 24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants.

Paul’s wisdom to Timothy gives us an excellent framework on how to be put to honorable use by the Father. If I want to live righteously, I must pursue purity. Rather, I must pursue Jesus by surrendering daily to the leading of His Spirit, to develop the fruit of faithfulness, love and peace in my life. I must also run from anything that stimulates lust (those things that make my 5 senses feel good, but that are not surrendered to Christ).

Paul also mentions the importance of companionship with other believers who have pure hearts. Why does that matter? Do we really need others to be used by God?

Absolutely.

As a little girl, I preferred to play alone. Not that alone isn’t good- it is, Jesus modeled the importance of aloneness when He continually went off by Himself to pray. But my aloneness was because I wanted to be in control of how the Barbie’s were played with, and which album spun on my Fisher Price record player! In short, I was prideful and I didn’t trust other people.

As I grew into an adult and a devoted follower of Jesus, it took quite a bit of effort to bend my will to the Father in regards to my aloneness. Honestly, I thought I was doing pretty good at the discipleship thing, so, I concluded, I didn’t really need others to pursue God.

I was wrong.

What I’ve since discovered is: my willingness to engage with those in the body of Christ has a direct impact on my ability to be a true servant of the Lord. When I choose to share my life with other “parts” and allow them to instruct, encourage, and rebuke me I am then able to teach, be patient with difficult people, speak Gods truth in love and help others escape the devils trap!

1 Corinthians 12:15-19

15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part!

Have there been a few “parts” that have proven themselves untrustworthy? Yep. And sadly, I’m sure there will be more. Still, I know that GOD can be trusted and as long as I pursue Him, He will help me enjoy the companionship of others so that we all may become special utensils together.