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A Vessel of Honor
by Duane Huffstutler A Vessel of Honor What is a vessel of Honor? It is a vessel that is not cracked nor does it have any defects in it either for its beauty or for its functionality. When a potter is making a vessel whether it is a vase a water pot or just a bowl when he gets it to where he thinks it is completed to his expectations he stops and steps back to look at it. He wants to get the overall view so that he will be able to see what he couldn't see up close. When we give our lives to Christ he places us on the potter's wheel and starts working on us. First the potter must break us down so that we understand that we are unable to accomplish what it is that he is wanting from our lives. He then soaks the pieces in water or in His Love so that they will become pliable again. If they are not pliable then the potter can not use them to make anything they are just bad pieces of clay not good for anything but the garbage. But when Jesus soaks us in his love then we become pliable and he can use our pieces to make a vessel of honor out of us. When a potter is making a vessel there may be many times when he has to smash it and start all over because of a defect but he very patiently takes it back to the beginning and starts all over again. As the potter is making the vessel he feels every little piece of clay he knows if it is hard or soft, every time he finds a piece of hard clay he pulls it out because he knows that it will cause a defect in the vessel if it is left in and goes to the firing. That hard piece will not fire right and it will cause a crack in the vessel and the vessel will leak. That is the way it is with us. Jesus takes us and as he is molding us into the vessel that he wants us to be, he will feel every part of us to find all of the defects, all of the hard spots that don't want to conform to what he wants and take them out. He then reworks that spot and continues on to the next spot. Sometimes the hard spot won't come out without taking a large piece of clay with it and he has to come back and fill in the hole with fresh clay. When this happens to us the Lord will very gently take a piece of clay from an area that he hasn't started working on yet and that maybe we haven't realized was useable for the Lord and place it out in the open where it can be seen and used for his work. Sometimes when he has been working the clay for a while it will get soft and start sagging. When this happens he will take you to a nice quiet place and let you rest for a while allowing you to regain your composure and then start in again trying to get you to the place where he wants you to be. No matter how bad things get Jesus never gets rid of a vessel he will just go back to the point that needs the rework and start over again from there always trying to perfect the vessel. It is like the verse in the song says"A vessel of honor I am today, all because Jesus wouldn't throw the clay away." How many times have we come on a brother or sister that is having a hard time and you can see that they are slipping or just barely hanging on and we refuse to help. We just throw them away because we can't see how God could use them after what they have done. That is the problem we are looking through our eyes and not through God's eyes. We fail to realize that no matter how bad someone else fails God and is not worthy, how bad did we fail him, and what did we do to make ourselves worthy. We must remember that there is nothing that we can do to make ourselves worthy only Jesus can do that. And only Jesus can make our brother or sister worthy. So quit looking at everyone else by your standards and start looking at them through the standards that Jesus uses. He died for everyone that will come to him not just a carefully picked hand full. When you see your brother or sister slipping don't just stand there help them up don't kick them when they are down, because sooner or later every one of us may be in the same place. We have to have each other or we are not going to make it. Lets do what we sing be like Jesus and not throw any one away. Duane L. Huffstutler, Written 2011, Faithwriters.com Duane L. Huffstutler is the Sunday School Director at Oak Grove Pentecostal Ministries in Bonifay Florida. All scripture is from the King James Version (1611) Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |