What kind of tool are 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. 21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.” (2 Tim. 2:20-21)

I find these verses fascinating. 

I first discovered them several years ago and have thought about them, off and on again for years. I was finally brought back to them the other day in my time alone with God. 

The concept seems simple enough. 

Some utensils are made of gold, some of silver. Still others, are made of wood and clay. 

“The expensive utensils (Gold and Silver) are used for special occasions”. You would use these utensils when your boss comes over for supper. (Assuming you like your boss). They are not to be used for every day occasions. They are special ones, to be used for special occasions. 

“The cheap ones” (Wood and clay”) are for everyday use. These would be the ones you would use when your serving your children lunch. they are the utensils that wouldn't mater if they broke, or if you lost one, because they are “cheap ones”.  

The next part of the verse, 21, is what I find interesting. 

read it again: “If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honourable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work.”

What is Paul getting at here? Well, if you keep your life clean and pure— just like the special utensils of gold and silver— the ones used for special occasions— You will be used for a special purpose. 

You will be used by and for God for a very specific purpose; His purpose. 

What would that be?

Well, it will be different for everyone of us. It could be building a hospital. It could be fostering a child. It could be taking a senior for a walk. It literally could be anything. 

If we keep our lives pure— and we do that by having a daily quiet time with Jesus and ask Him to set us apart for His glory— He will use us in numerous ways. It might not seem big to us, but keep in mind the truth of 1 Corinthians 15:58: “Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”(NLT)

God wants His people to be set apart; to be Holy. 

As we are set apart, He will use us as a special utensil— for His purpose and His plan. We just have to make sure that we are ready. 

What kind of tool are you? Made of wood and clay, or made of Gold and silver? 

Remember, tools are meant to be used, not just sit on the shelf. They are in fact, quite useless if they are sitting on the shelf. The only good a tool can do is if it gets in the game. So, today, ask Jesus to help you be a special utensil, so that He can use you for the job that He has for you to do this very day. 

Keep in mind that nothing God asks you to do will ever go to waste.