God at Work: Through You
“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. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a utensil God can use for His purpose. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.”
There are two key phrases in this verse on which I wish to focus your attention, “Keep yourself pure,” and “You will be ready for the Master to use you.”
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart . . .” The Bible considers the heart of man, as used in this passage, to be something much more complex than a bodily organ. It is referred to as the seat of the emotions. Fear, love, courage, anger, joy, sorrow, and hatred are ascribed to the heart. It also stands for the center of the moral, spiritual, and intellectual life of a person, and the seat of one’s conscience.
The word “pure” was used often to mean something that was unadulterated or mixed with anything foreign such as pure gold which had not been mixed with other metals. Also it meant to be clean like a dish that had been thoroughly washed. God wants your motives tobe unmixed and your thoughts and conduct to be unadulterated with things that are not right. The word “pure” also means something which was purged from wrong so it could be used for right. When you are “pure in heart,” you are ready to do good things which God has for you to do.
The apostle Paul wrote, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)
In some Christian churches in China it is said that they welcome new believers by saying, “Jesus now has a new pair of eyes to see with, new ears to listen with, new hands to help with, and a new heart to love others with.” (Purpose Driven Life – Rick Warren)
The love that God focuses on your life, He wants to also be focused on others through you. He wants you to look at others and their needs with a compassion that reaches out to them. This kind of compassion, reaching out to those in need, was witnessed by the early Christians.
Acts 2:44 reflects their love and compassion, “And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had. They sold their possessions and shared the proceeds with those in need.”
Someone has said, “There is no joy in life like the joy of sharing.” Several years ago someone made an acrostic out of the word JOY, “Jesus first – others second – yourself last.” If anyone should be sympathetic, tolerant, understanding, and compassionate toward the needs of others, it should be a Christian person. The apostle Paul referred to himself often as the servant of Jesus Christ. Most people expect to be served rather than to serve. You can reach the point in your spiritual maturity to stop asking, “Who’s going to meet my needs?” and begin asking, “Whose needs can I meet?” Do you ever ask yourself that question?
“God wants to use you to make a difference in His world. He wants to work through you. What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it. Not how long you lived but how you lived.”