July 16th

Beyond Belief

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

What are you good for?

I don't mean to be insulting, but I mean the question sincerely. What are you good for? What purpose can you serve? Are you useful for honorable things, or only for dishonorable ones?

Even more important, do you know how to become useful for honorable things?

I want you to examine your life right now and see if you are useful for the Lord. Is your heart still passionate about serving Him and following His direction for your life? Or have you grown dull, consumed by the glamour of success or the tyranny of just scraping by?

We know from God's Word that He honors the people who set themselves apart for His use, but He relegates those who live for themselves to dishonorable things. It's not as though His heart is to treat them dishonorably, it's just that He can't trust them with honorable things. If He gave them honorable things, they would use them for themselves instead of for Him. And when our eternal reward is based on faithfulness with what we are given, He wants to set us up for success and not for failure.

So He only gives honor to those who are submitted to Him, set apart, sold out, ready to serve. These are the ones He can trust to be faithful. These are the ones He will send on the special missions for the kingdom of God. These are the ones He looks for to give them help in their time of need, because He knows their need is because they have been spending themselves for Him-His help is a co-laboring with us, not a bail out!

Have you set yourself apart for God? Are you devoted to His special purposes? Are you trustworthy with His mission? Then you are useful, good for something honorable in the kingdom of God. If you are not set apart, then you are only useful for dishonorable things.

The choice is yours today. Do you want to be good for something? Then set yourself apart.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I want to be good for something, so I give myself to you wholeheartedly. I hold nothing back today. I am Yours! Please take me, help me, and use me for Your kingdom today and every day for the rest of my earthly life.

Amen