Day 235: Merely Vessels

1 Corinthians 3:5-7

After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

We are merely vessels used by God to bring forth His purpose for people on Earth. We are vessels through which His word is revealed to His people. I want to talk about this today because I think sometimes we can get caught up in the idea that we are the ones doing God’s work, and not Him doing it through us. We can get a big head sometimes and a bit arrogant. Without Him we would not have anything to give or do. So sometimes we have to check ourselves like, ‘Chill, go sit down somewhere and have a glass of humility.’ I love that Paul starts this statement off with a question, basically asking, “Who am I and who is Apollos?” Like who do you think I am, or who do you think I think I am. We sometimes view ourselves as more than what we actually are. It’s like a need to feel or be important.  We are simply God’s servants, just vessels here to be used by God. We’re only here to do what God has told us to do, and at the end of the day, what matters most is that God did the increase. Yes, we are vessels of God’s word, but we have to know that He doesn’t need us, He wants us. He wants us here planting and watering seeds so that He can make the increase. He wants to use us to bring His good news to the people, but that does not mean that the show stops when we decide to make ourselves unavailable. Paul goes on to say, I did one thing, Apollos did another but without God it would have never grown. He did the increase, not us. It doesn’t matter who watered or who planted all that matters is that God made it grow. At the end of the day, God is the only one who can make us grow, the only one who can increase us. Which brings me to my next point.

We often give God’s praise to man. Meaning we credit the people God used instead of giving honor where it is due. While God sends people in our lives to help us grow and elevate us, we must make sure that we realize it is God who is working through them. We can honor people for what they have done, and thank people, and show our gratitude, there’s nothing wrong with that. It becomes a sin when we begin to take away what God is doing in our lives and give all the credit and honor to man. God has gotten us where we are today, He has used man to help along the way but God is behind it all.

I love Chance The Rapper, but there is a specific moment in his career I want to highlight, and it’s when he won his Grammy for best new artist. He might have set the record for how many times someone has thanked God in an award speech. I love the fact that he thanked God for the position he is in. He thanked God for the people around him that helped make him winning a grammy possible. He gave God all the credit, for everything. He knows that if it wasn’t for God he wouldn’t have the people in his life that pushed him, helped him, and supported him. God is the mastermind behind it all.

All this to say, God is behind everything. No matter how much we plant or how much we water, until God does the increase, nothing will happen. God deserves the praise for all of it, let’s not take it away from Him and give it to someone else.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

1. Take the time to think about and thank God for the people in your life, that God has placed there to get you where you are today,
2. Next take the time to realize that we are merely vessels and thank Him for using us to bring forth His word to people.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 236!

Day 202: Check Yourself

Romans 2:21-24

Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.

I’m sure we are all familiar with the statement, “Check yourself before you wreck yourself.” I especially remember my mom saying it to me whenever I was getting out of line. My mom would always tell us when we were younger, “charity starts at home”. Basically what she meant by that was, everything starts with us, before we can talk about anyone or lead anyone else we have to make sure that we have everything in order. I believe that the above scripture points directly to this statement. I think sometimes we can get caught up in what other people are doing that we don’t step back and take a look at ourselves. This is something I’ve seen happen so much in the church, especially towards the younger generation. We are judged for the lifestyle we lead by older people because they don’t approve. Even if we are leading a life dedicated to Christ, many times people will have a problem in they way that we do that as well.

I have been led by people who told me not to do something while they were doing that very thing, and it baffled me once I found out because I found so many of my elders were telling me what to do simply because they were my elders and apparently I’m required to listen to them. But if you are doing the very thing you're telling me not to do, how is that leadership. This is why many times the church is equated with hypocrisy. However I believe that we can change that and the way to do is highlighted in the scriptures. Check yourself before you check anyone else. There’s a couple of other scriptures I want to point to to drive this message home.

Matthew 7:3-5

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.  

We are in no place to judge, we have to live our lives everyday for ourselves making sure that we are living right. We don’t have time to be judging other people. Yes, we can lead people to Christ and teach them about Christ but first we have to be taught, we have to be led. Many times people become Christians and overnight they turn into someone who all of sudden has the right to point out every sin in someone and let them know that they will be punished by God. I’ve been on both sides of that. We can’t be a Christian for all of two minutes and then think we have so much together that we can start telling other people how to live. We need to learn how to live like Christ first, before we can teach anyone else. We have some specks in our eyes that need to be removed before we can even start to see clearly.

John 8: 7-9

They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”  Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.

This is a familiar passage to many of us, and what amazes me the most is that no one was able to cast a stone. No one but Jesus, who was the only one left standing there. These men were all revved up with stones in hand ready to kill this woman, without realizing that they themselves are in the same position as her. The were all sinners as well. Jesus gave them permission to cast the stone but only if they were without sin. At that moment they had to stop and think. They had to examine themselves and see that they were sinners same as this woman.

How many times have we been ready to throw a stone at someone else without checking ourselves first?

All this to say, check yourself. Make sure that you are living the way you’re supposed to before judging anyone else. In order to make the world a better place and advance God’s kingdom we must start with ourselves.

Reflection

1. Do you find yourself judging other people for their lifestyle and choices?
2. Are you without sin?
3. What are some things you need to work on as a Christian?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about what we discussed today, ask Him to search your heart and help you change the things that need to be changed in your life.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 203!