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 2:21
Since we were married, my wife and I have moved several times. Each time, we found ourselves cleaning out our house. We found that we had things we were keeping we didn’t need. There were things we had bought thinking we would use them, but they were just cluttering the closets and shelves. We needed to get rid of that clutter because it was not providing a benefit to us and there was no point in moving the items.
It seems that our human nature is to bring things into our lives that we may not need. Just like we bring things into our homes that will clutter the shelves, we bring things into our lives that clutter our shelves. These are things that do not bring value to our lives.
In his writing in Timothy, Paul shares that there are different types of vessels that are kept. He said in verse 20 that some are to honor and some to dishonor. He writes here in verse 21 that we must purse ourselves from those things that are dishonorable. We should want to keep the things in our lives that are adding true value.
Paul is suggesting a spiritual house cleaning. He is suggesting that we take an examination of our lives and all that is in them, and remove the things that may prevent us from being a vessel of honor to God. It may mean that we need to remove friends, influences, activities, or many other things. Whatever that may be on the shelves of our spiritual lives that prevent us from being used fully by God.
How long has it been since you took a look at your spiritual house to see if it needs to be cleaned out? There are so many things that want to creep onto the “shelves” of our hearts. We must be vigilant to clean those things out so that we can continue to be ready for use by the Master.
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