One of my classmates in high school was a darling of the teachers. Whenever they needed something picked from the staffroom or a message relayed to a fellow teacher, she was the girl for the job.
She was responsible, trustworthy, confident, honest, a team player, and an excellent leader to boot. She was all that and a bag of chips:
Unsurprisingly, she was eventually crowned the school captain. The teachers couldn’t help but nitpick her because she always got any job done to their satisfaction.
But don’t we all love responsible, reliable people who can be trusted to hold things down? A reliable nanny, colleague, gardener, employee, child’s teacher, delivery man, or mechanic is always such a delight.
Turns out that God too has a type.
God’s Choice Vessels
God uses men to enforce His will on earth. Human beings with blood coursing through their veins.
Mere mortals who snore at night and whose stomachs growl when hungry are His favorite vessels.
In the Bible, we see God using lots of men and women. There was Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Elijah, Jeremiah, Esther, Mary, Peter, Paul, among many others.
God has multiple assignments that He often needs a man or woman to execute. Paul lets us in on the type of Human vessels He prefers.
He alludes to the fact that the master of the Universe gravitates towards certain kind of vessels.
“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work (2 Timothy 2:20-21).
When my children misplace the cats’ plates, I allow them to repurpose a plastic plate or container from the kitchen without batting an eye. But I have plenty of other special utensils that cannot be relegated to such uses.
Every great house has vessels for both honorable and dishonorable purposes, and God’s House, the ultimate House, is no exception.
All God’s assignments are honorable, and He seeks honorable vessels to execute them. Paul says that if we cleanse ourselves, we will be vessels of honor, sanctified and useful for God’s use. Sanctified means set apart.
Cleansing Ourselves
God sanctifies us during salvation. We are saved not by our works but by His grace through Faith. Upon salvation, we become new creatures; the old passes away, and all things become brand new.
The kind of cleansing that Paul is talking about is, however, different from what happens during salvation.
“If anyone cleanses himself from the latter….”
This cleansing is not done by Christ but by ourselves. Although our salvation is eternal and entirely the work of God, this cleansing and setting apart that Paul refers to is dependent on us.
It hinges on our willingness. It’s in the choices we make every day.
In the verses that follow, Paul elaborates what this cleansing entails:
“Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient” (2 Timothy 2: 22-23).
Our cleansing involves us deliberately pursuing righteousness, faith, love, peace, gentleness, patience, and a multitude of other godly virtues.
It is the act of daily picking up our crosses and following Jesus. It is choosing the unpopular, arduous, narrow path which leads to life.
I find it intriguing that God does not tinker with our will. He does not force us to obey His statutes. He works in us and gives us the desire to do His will all right (Philippians 2:13).
But He then dusts His hands and leaves us to make our own choices. He doesn’t meddle with our will.
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).
From the scripture above, it’s clearly upon us to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and when we do, we become delightful vessels of honor, fit for the master’s use!
Cleansed Not Perfect
Let’s get this straight: the master isn’t looking for perfect vessels, but cleansed ones. You don’t have to be prim, proper, and buttoned up for God to use you.
You may have some jagged edges here and there, but that doesn’t disqualify you. If you have cleansed yourself, consider yourself a vessel of honor.
And talking of imperfections, Scripture repeatedly shows us that God has a high affinity for frail vessels. In fact, the frailer, the better for Him.
Moses was a stammerer, and of all the tasks God could conjure up for Him, He asked Him to go persuade a King whose heart He had already hardened.
Gideon’s self-worth was lower than a snake’s belly, and his faith as wobbly as jelly. He was the self-proclaimed low man on the totem pole.
Yet all God needed was a cleansed vessel. He empowered him to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites with just a handful of men wielding pitchers, torches, and trumpets. Talk of God’s unorthodox ways!
Our shortcomings and weaknesses do not tick God off. They do not disqualify us from becoming vessels of honor. In fact, they attract God’s hand because His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.
Little wonder that Paul made a fuss — not about his strengths but about his boatload of weaknesses
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).
“He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength” (Isaiah 40:29).
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty“(1 Corinthians 1:27).
Anyone Can Be a Vessel of Honor
“If anyone cleanses himself from the latter….”
Thankfully, God doesn’t play favorites. The invitation to become a vessel of honor is to all, just as salvation is for all.
“For God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11).
Age, race, ethnicity, gender, occupation, income level, and marital status do not matter.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28)
What’s more, weaknesses are an added advantage.
Any. One. Can be a vessel of honor.
You and I can be God’s vessels of honor; we have no excuse.
“Then Peter opened his mouth and said: In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:34-35).
God is Searching
In Ezekiel 22, we see God intently looking for a choice vessel. Israel had yet again sinned against Him. Their leaders were no different; they too were knee-deep in iniquity.
Here are some of the repulsive sins God points out against them:
- Their prophets exploited the vulnerable, gave false visions, whipped up lies, and misrepresented God
- The priests violated the law and profaned what was holy
- Sabbath was treated with contempt
- Leaders oppressed the people right, left, and centre
- There was injustice, robbery, and murder
- The poor, needy, and strangers were oppressed
Faced with such grave offences, God needed a vessel of honor to stand in the gap so that He could avert the impending judgment.
“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God” Ezekiel 22:30-31.
Tragically, His search yielded nothing. There was no vessel of honor in sight. God’s fury and judgment were inevitable.
It is clear that God has a type. He doesn’t just grab any vessel within reach for His honorable purposes.
Granted, all of creation is at His disposal, and He can use it in whichever manner He pleases. All things were created through Him and for Him (Colossians 1:16).
Creation serves Him. In fact, He once used a donkey to reprimand Balaam, a pagan prophet who had been tasked with cursing Israel.
But mostly? God relishes using the men and women who have cleansed themselves.
In Exodus 32, God’s anger burns hot against the Israelites who had done the unthinkable — molded a golden calf, worshiped and sacrificed to it.
In their view, Moses had taken too long to return from His meeting with God on the mountain. Who knew, maybe God had whisked Him away just as He had Enoch.
They grew restless and itched for a god they could see and touch. They prevailed upon Aaron, and he molded a golden calf which they serenaded with worship.
They scoffed at the jaw-dropping miracles Yahweh had performed in their very eyes and turned to an idol.
Greatly incensed, God intended to obliterate every last one of them. But then Moses happened. He stood in the gap and pleaded with God to relent from the intended harm.
Seeing that He was an honorable vessel, God accepted His intercession and averted judgment.
Abraham was another vessel of honor, qualified to intercede for Sodom. He kept pleading with God to spare the city, subtly pushing the envelope till God promised that if He found ten righteous people, He would spare Sodom (Genesis 18:16-33).
And though the ten were not found and Sodom & Gomorrah were razed to the ground, Abraham had been a vessel of honor.
Esther too was a choice vessel for the salvation of the Jews.
God cleaned up Saul of Tarsus and then used him mightily as a vessel of honor. The list of these men and women goes on and on.
Final Thoughts
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9)
You are chosen.
You are royal.
You are holy.
And you are special.
God has already done His part by sending Jesus to die on the cross for your redemption. Now that you are sanctified through Christ, the onus is on you to avail yourself as a vessel of honor.
P.S….On Another Note: A New Book for Wives and Wives-to-Be
I hate to admit it, but I made a boatload of mistakes in my earlier years of marriage. From trying to change and mother my husband to blatantly ignoring how the Scriptures ask wives to conduct themselves.
Yet in my heart of hearts, I strongly desired to see God glorified in all areas of my life, including my marriage.
Through prayer, studying Scripture, research, honest self-reflection, and conversations with other women, I began uncovering some uncomfortable truths.
I uncovered some seemingly harmless attitudes and patterns I held dear that were quietly sabotaging my marriage. Little sneaky foxes that were ruining my vineyard.
Earlier this year, God put it in my heart to compile my hits and misses in marriage and the lessons He taught me about becoming a godly wife.
This heartfelt book is titled: Mistakes Wives Make in Marriage and How to Remedy Them.
It’s not a book that shames wives or excuses husbands, but one that invites wives to look within and ask, “Is there anything in me, Lord, that needs to change?
Because oftentimes the greatest transformation in marriage does not begin with changing your spouse but with allowing God to change you.
Highly recommended for wives and wives-to-be!
It is available on Amazon Kindle & Paperback, In Print, or you can read it online on the Selar App
Get the book on 👇
