Vessels of Honour
Each time I visited my grandmother, she would assign and apportion our chores. She would permit us to touch everything else in her home except for her precious vases, you can clean everything else except for the vases by the corner. They always picked my interest because they stood out amongst all the pieces in her living room-“I will attend to them myself” she would say. That was a clear instruction and ruling from the quality I wasn’t capacitated to replace them if I were to knock them over. It boggled my mind why they were so special and different from the rest until she revealed to me the secret behind. She explained giving emphasis to the materials used in making those vases she adored the most.
Silver and gold are rare and precious metals and because they are so precious and valuable and because they underwent through a series of refinement and purging they’ll never be of inferior capacity. At night, the light lay heavily and rich on their golden surface! Undoubtedly, they weren’t of cheap quality & weren’t as brittle as clay. They didn’t chip off that easily.
Take away the dross from the silver, And there comes out [the pure metal for] a vessel for the silversmith [to shape].
Proverbs 25:4 AMP
When the silversmith is crafting a perfect vessel, the chalice in progress has to go through a series of refinement. The dross has to be gotten rid of which will render the vessel worthless and less valuable.
It’s so easy to get carried away and forget the reason why we were created and the role we have to play on earth, to serve as stewards. There are times we have to stop in our tracks and ask if we are characterizing and embodying the kingdom well and doing justice to the title “heiress of the kingdom“. Since I’m a beneficiary and a legatee, by virtue of being a child of God it means Christ and all He stands for is represented in honour. When You accepted the Lord as your personal saviour, He moved in with everything He has-Honour and veneration included.
Romans 8:17 says, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (NIV)
A vessel of honour is a holder, a recipient and a conduit. I would like to take it as a circulatory vessel. Just like blood vessels in the human or animal body in which blood circulates to various parts of the body nutrients and wastes are exchanged between the blood and body tissues. Being a vessel means that we have to guard this invaluable thing placed In our custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us. If we live God’s way, He gifts us with, affection for others, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a strong conviction that basic holiness pervades things and people. We find ourselves entangled in loyal commitments, marshalling and directing our energies wisely. Since this is the kind of life associated with us which is, the life of the Spirit, we need to ensure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives- Each of us as an original purposeful vessel adorned with honour. When we are vessels of honour, we aren’t self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, haughty, ignoble, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, ill-treating others and unbending.
We were all chosen and approved as God’s chosen vessels before we were formed in the womb but just like David, we lost it along the way but it’s imperative to make a contrite sinners’ prayer in order to be restored back to our original purpose of serving as vessels of honour.
Now how do we become vessels of honour?
Just like how silver is refined, we are refined and made pure by Scripture which Is God-breathed and a useful way of showing us the truth, exposing our rebellion, reproving and correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way. Through the Word, we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us.
2 Timothy 3:1-17 MSG
May we become the kind of vessels God can use to present any and every kind of gift to His children for their blessing so that His name may be glorified.
by Maureen N Hove-Mudita
Blog: https://theeroyaldiadem.wordpress.com/
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