For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4:7
When my oldest son was old enough to drink out of a straw, I let him drink after me, and I had no problem drinking after him… Until the day we were sharing a clear straw. I watched a mouthful of the food he was eating slide effortlessly back down the straw and into the drink. Needless to say, the rest of that drink was his, and I have never shared a drink with him since that moment. Now he gets his drink, and I have mine. I have a feeling you wouldn’t be very excited about sharing a drink with a younger child either if you so that. You would not wait until he had covered the outside of the cup in greasy handprints and the inside with chunks of food to grab it from the sink and drink out of it. No one wants to use a dirty cup because it is just disgusting. Given the choice, nearly every person would choose the clean cup from the cupboard over a dirty one from the sink.
Why, then, do so many people expect God to use a dirty vessel? Of course, I am not referring to a drinking cup; I am speaking of their lives. Second Timothy refers to our lives as vessels that are used either to honor or to dishonor depending on how we live them. Someone who follows Christ is a vessel unto honor; someone who lives life for self and the devil is a dishonorable vessel. God cannot be expected to use a vessel that is dirty, and He will not.
Just as you would not drink after someone who backwashes, and just as you would not use a food-encrusted cup from the sink, God cannot use a Christian who is filled with impurities. In order for God to use him, a Christian must cleanse himself from pride, impure thoughts, impure actions, and any sin that comes between him and God. Make no mistake, God wants to use every person, but He cannot and will not use him if his life is dirty.
Read also: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Quote of the day: “It is never too late to be what you might have been." – George Eliot