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Vessels
by Randy Chambers, 2004-11-01
Maybe you've heard the story of the father who raised his son to play football. From the time the boy could hold a ball, it seemed he had one in his hand. For countless years the father would spend day after day teaching his son the game -- preparing him for the day he would shine, get his lucky break, and be drafted by a professional level team.
But something goes wrong with the father's plan -- the boy develops a natural artistic talent that draws him away from football and toward a career as a graphic artist. The boy had tried to please his father and played football for a while, but a day came when he could not deny himself any longer. He could not deny his abilities, talents and purposes for which God had made him.
We consider all that we are and have to be by the grace of God. For we know "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17 KJV).
As we look at who we are, we must consider natural talents and abilities; we must consider personality traits and we must consider our limitations. We would not expect a young man to become a mechanic if he had no mechanical aptitude; and we would not expect someone to lead music in church if the person could not carry a tune. So also we should discern our calling wisely, knowing that God has equipped us with far more than knowledge alone. For He has been equipping us for our purpose early on, developing all aspects of our person for a given task.
In determining our place where God would have us, we might do well to consider that we are more than spirit, and that God has called us to minister to humans who are also more than spirit. We are not defined by our spiritual person alone and therefore should not let that be the only part of us from which we serve God. The Lord desires that we serve Him with our entire person, not just the spiritual part. Our talents, aptitudes, personality and gifts are to all be used to glorify God -- acknowledging therein that He is the giver of all good things -- not ignoring any one aspect because it does not seem spiritual enough.
There are many of us who become Christians and then desire to serve God whole-heartedly. Some of us are called to preach, sing, or minister in a full-time Church vocation. But most of us are not. However, we are all called to be what God has made us to be. So while some of us have been fashioned for full-time church work, others of us have been fashioned for something else. Some of us have simply not been equipped to be a Church Minister -- though all of us have been called to minister. Most of us have not been called to be Evangelists -- yet all of us have been called to evangelize.
It is so important for the entire body of Christ, and for you yourself, that we all get this. For there have been so many that want to serve God with their whole heart and have felt that the only way they could do that is by surrendering to full-time Christian work. Yet, there are so many who become miserable because, although their intentions are good, they are not functioning as God had intended.
We all have a purpose and it is not our place to discard our position in favor of what appears to our eyes and the eyes of mankind to be a nobler purpose. We are simply to be what we have been made to be, that's all God expects -- to do otherwise is to let down ourselves, our church and our Lord. Be all you can be -- but be what He has fashioned you for.
"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:20-21 KVJ).
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Devotional
