Almost 29 years ago a beautiful young lady agreed to be my
wife. There were all sorts of activities
that went on during that time. Decisions
had to be made about the location of the wedding ceremony, the dress, the after
rehearsal dinner, the preacher, the
brides maids and on and on. All things
that had to take place for this wedded bless to come to fruition.
I remember one of
those activities was the occasion when Keva went down to Wright’s Drug store in
the Dixie shopping center in Clanton to pick out the china. Now I wasn’t clear on just exactly why we needed china. We lived in the Ranger station, a little 4 room building at Higgins Ferry park. Not like we would be entertaining distinguished quest. But she looked at the books and pictures of
knives and forks and plates and cups and all sorts of things and at long last
picked out the pattern that was to be our china.
Kind people, who knew us and wanted to get us gifts, went to Wright’s and paid good money for overly priced plates and saucers and cups and at the wedding shower we became
the owners of a beautiful set of china.
I guess that happens to lots of people when they get married.
But I want to tell you about this stuff called china. China is no more than clay which is mixed with other raw
elements. It is put in a fire and become something useful and beautiful. It is
heated and shaped and instead of being a lump of clay it is re-born, remade
into china. China that is beautiful and
useful to the owner.
Look out here comes the spiritual connection.
The Word tells us that you and I are, just like the china,
initially clay, dirt. But there is a
little thing called Salvation, or being born again that can happen to us when
we confess our sins and accept Jesus as our savior. Instead of being just clay, we become a
dish, a plate, a cup that can be used for God's glory.
Well, we got all that china.
We took it home and because it was “special” we put it in a special
place. We didn’t want it to get broken
or chipped. So we stacked it all up neatly in a couple of drawers. “We will take it out and use it on special
occasions”, we said. You know what
happened don’t you? I bet you’ve done
just about the same thing. We have NEVER used that china. It’s made to be used. It’s set aside to be used. But it’s never used.
Christians, when you and I got saved we were remade in order
to be used. We were born again. No longer clay, but beautiful vessels. But we are sitting in the drawer and not being used.
That's why there is more.
There is what I call a “churchy word”, SANCTIFY, which means to set apart
for a specific use or purpose. That’s
what we did with the china. We set is apart from the rest of the dishes for a
specific or special purpose.
So we are re-born, constructed in the image that He desires
for us. We are set apart for the work He
has for us to do……but we are also made clean, which is the second part of the definition
of the word sanctify or sanctification.
Can you imagine us
taking that nicely molded and decorated china, putting it in the cabinet and
setting it apart for a special purpose and never cleaning it? We decide to have, let’s say a Thanksgiving
meal with friends, and we want to use the china, so we take it out and put it
on the table but it is dirty and stained and has left over butter beans on
it. It can’t be used.
Do you get it? We are
remade, set apart but if we are not cleaned, if we are not free from sin we are
just a dirty ole cup or plate and can’t be used. That's not what God had in mind when He created us.
Lord, I want to be made in your image, set apart for your
glory and clean so you can use me. And, and, when I am clean then and only then can He fill me up with good stuff so that He can be glorified. Fill that plate with good food. Fill it with the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and let the banquet begin.
How’s your china?
