When I go into Target, one of the first things I do is buy a fountain drink. I love that they carry Pepsi products instead of Coke. So today when the the cashier handed me my cup, she handed it to me when her hand over the top of my cup. I cringe. I take my cup and tell myself that it will be okay, since I will be drinking out of a straw. I grab a napkin and wipe around the rim of my cup. I proceed to fill my cup up and reach for a lid. There in only one lid in the entire lid holder and it is face down. Faced down in that nasty ( at least in my mind ) and germy holder. My first thought was how long had it been since that thing had been cleaned. I am forced with a decision to take it and clean it or go without a lid. I am a klutz, so I took the lid. I just tried really hard not to think about it. I have turned into such a germ phobe. Anybody that knows me knows I do not take the first lid or the first magazine or the first anything. How many germy hands have been on it? It got me to thinking......
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. II Timothy 2:21
As Christians, we want to be used by God. We want Him to fill us with His spirit without thought as to the cleanliness of our vessel. We rationalize and justify the dirt we let into our lives. We watch things we should not watch. We say things we should not say. We think things that we should not think. If you went into a restaurant that served your meal with caked on food on your utensils, you would refuse it and demand for another set that was clean. What if your ice tea was delivered with floaties in it? We would be irate and leave with the idea of never going back. We would be justified in that decision...but yet, we expect God to overlook the dirt in our own lives. We expect him to ignore the floaties in our vessel and expect Him to pour out His goodness in us.That would be like going into your kitchen and looking through your dirty dishes to find a glass to pour your tea into. A contaminated glass would contaminate anything you poured into it making it undrinkable.
I think a lot of our problem ( at least for me ) is that we think God understands. He understands that we try and he understands that we fail. We think that because 90% of our lives are clean, He will overlook the other 10%. That is nothing but a mind game we play with our self. God hates sin. He will not overlook sin and He will punish it. He hates it so much that He turned His back on His only son as he bore the sins of the world. While he can't tolerate sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us. Just as we can wash our dirty glasses and make them fit for use, so as it is with our vessels. We can become meet for the Master's use.
Be ye holy; For I am holy.
I Peter 1:16
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