Proper Utensils

2 Timothy 2:20-22 (New Living Translation)

 ²⁰ 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.
 ²² Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.

This was the passage I taught from tonight. I must admit, that I never teach or preach without the passage God has given me doing a number on my heart and life first. I once heard Alistair Begg say that this was a necessary step for any preacher of the gospel. Tonight's text has made me reexamine my own heart and life to see if I am really ready to make the decisions that are necessary for God to be honored in my life, for God to use me to touch people around me in a uniquely God shaped way.

My prayer is that I will even more run from the temptations that surround us as believers and pursue God, pursue love, peace, and righteousness. There is a desperation I sense in Paul's words...like a singer unleash his heart through a song, anticipating a response from his audience. How will you and I respond to God's call of purity and holiness.