“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.” (2 Timothy 2:20-21 MSG)
Hopefully by now, you are starting to see a new way of living, a new way of viewing yourself, and a new way of viewing God. When you were still far away, He came looking for you and His love for you is overwhelming. He forgave your sins, gave you abundant life, and is preparing a place for you in heaven. He also made you with specific skills and talents and a unique personality, and all of those things can be used to reach others, to help them understand that God loves them, too, and that His plan has always been for them to have an abundant life.
Silver & Gold
In the passage that begins this chapter, Paul uses an analogy of items in a house to describe believers and how we can be useful to God by serving Him and fulfilling our respective destinies. We see that some items are inexpensive and ordinary, but others are honorable, used for special occasions—in the Master’s hand, these are the utensils that accomplish great things. Every person is at a different place in his or her walk with Christ. No two stories are the same, and no one starts out as silver or gold; it is a process. It is God who prepares us, refines us, and makes us honorable. Fine china is used for noble purposes, not paper plates. If you decide you aren’t satisfied with being a paper plate and want the next level of Christianity, you can have it! You may not feel very special or honorable at this moment, but God sees you this way. You are not defined or limited by your past. He makes all things new, brand new (2 Corinthians 5:17), and He wants you to be a vessel of honor.