Christian, Are You a Faithful Vessel? One the Father chooses to Use?

You know those stories about people who, after they died in very frugal conditions, were then found to have hundreds of thousands of dollars stuffed away in all the nooks and crannies of their house?

Those stories always catch my eye! Doesn’t it intrigue you when you hear those stories? Faithful savers.

I want to be one of those people! A faithful saver. But not with money. With eternal treasure.

I want to live so faithfully here in this life, that I am a regular vessel that the Father chooses to use, so that when I get to heaven I have stored up lots of heavenly treasure!

Treasure that I will be happy to lay down at the feet of Jesus, to thank Him for all He’s done for me.

Don’t you want that too? I hope you do.

I pray all the time that God would use me, but most of the time I don’t want to even know how he’s used me.

I don’t want to get puffed up, or proud in any way that makes it about me, because it’s not. Its about Him. I just hope to be a vessel He can, and does, use. Because I am faithful, willing, and eager to be used.

My dear friend Jennie posted this story recently on her Facebook wall:

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. ‘I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.’

The old woman smiled, ‘Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?’ ‘That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.’

Each of us has our own unique flaws. But when those flaws are redeemed by the Father, He is able to use us in such unique and interesting ways! As the Bible says, His strength is made perfect through our weaknesses. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

I want to be like that cracked pot… being used without really knowing that I’ve been used to further God’s kingdom.

I want to know a little… just enough to be encouraged. But most of it I don’t even want to know until I get to Heaven. I want to be vastly unaware of the heavenly treasure I’ve hopefully managed to squirrel away. That is for God, the great “accountant” to keep track of. I want to be wonderfully surprised. It is truly a prayer I pray, and have prayed for decades! (You can read about that prayer and 2 other “strange” prayers I pray here.)

Most of the ways faithful followers are used are not “big,” public, for the world to see ways. While some are used that way, I am too introverted to want to be that kind of vessel. Of course, it’s God’s choice in how He uses me, but He knows how He made me, haha! I am really very shy! But God measures our usability and value in much different ways than the world measures these types of things. Faithfully spending time with God, and having a kind word or a listening ear for those around us, always being ready with a helping hand, or genuinely lifted faithful prayers… I think these are valued far more richly than we could ever imagine in God’s scheme of things.

I do believe God has told me to start this blog, and although I’ve been at this for the better part of a year, I am still learning and growing into it. (You can read my 9 month update here) I desire to be faithful in blogging and in all that I do in my Christian life. I deeply pray that He leads me as I write, and uses me to help encourage others on their Faith Journey with Jesus, or for some to actually begin that Faith Journey. That is my deepest desire, that my life and testimony and articles would be used to draw others to Jesus, especially those questioning or seeking Him.

He is sooooo real and soooo worth giving your life to! I am a changed life. I can still remember it, and ‘feel’ it to this day; that moment when I gave my life to Him and He lifted my burden, and came in to this poor, hurt, and very insecure little girl that I was at 12 years old.

Jesus healed and is healing that little girl, even though she is now 57 years old. He has never left me or forsaken me. He has held my hand and lifted me up through the deepest trials of my life. I have felt His arms around me and heard His gentle whisper inside me, guiding and leading me all the way.

If you have not given your life to Him, you may think I am that cracked pot from the story above, but it is true. When Christ comes in to your heart and life, you are a new creation, (2 Corinthians 5:17) and He becomes your Shepherd. His sheep hear His voice, and know Him. (John 10:27)

God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside all believers, and it is His still small voice that we hear as we learn how to live closer and closer to Jesus. It is when we respond to His prodding in our lives, that we become ever more faithful, by growing in Grace. (2 Peter 3:18)

When Christ did so much for me, why wouldn’t I respond by seeking to be a faithful follower of His?

I have never understood why this isn’t the natural response in all believers, or those who claim to be believers. To give my entire life back to Jesus in response for His giving His life for me? That does not even begin to pay back the ‘debt’ I owe, and could never repay. And while it is not a requirement for my salvation, it is my innermost and most grateful response to the Love of my Savior; to love Him back with all my heart and soul and strength and mind. Yet, I have seen so many who are apathetic to their own personal relationship with Christ.

“Oh, let’s not go overboard, or anything”
“Don’t want to be so Heavenly minded that you’re no Earthly good.”
“Let’s not be a fanatic about this Christianity thing.”

These are some of the responses I’ve heard over the years. I reject all of these, and I hope you do too!

I could never repay Christ for all He has done for me, not in an eternity! But I sure do want to try!
I think the more Heavenly minded we are, the MORE Earthly good we will be!
We can be fanatics for much lesser things, ie: sports teams, TV shows, actors/actresses, Alma mater’s; so how much MORE we should be fanatics for the One who saved us, and forgave us, and is the Awesome Creator of all we know and see!

Faithfulness is probably one of the most under rated Christian traits, especially in this world where ‘greatness’ is based on flashy-ness, and public notoriety, and what the world deems valuable.

Faithfulness can be such a quiet but steady trait, seen in the most introverted and quiet Christians, going unnoticed by the world, but it is never unnoticed by God.

Faithfulness makes an extroverted Christian all the more real and authentic when day by day their personal walk with God is the most steady and unwavering characteristic of their being.

Faithfulness in Bible reading and study, faithfulness in prayer with the Triune God, faithfulness to the Body of Christ, faithfulness to witnessing and testifying about our Beloved Savior, faithfulness to sharing the gifts God has given us… These are the faithful traits of the true disciple of Jesus.

We all can stumble and fall, backslide or reach a doldrums period in our faith walk, but the Christian who is motivated by true Love for the Savior will never be content in these situations. He/she will reach out for the hand of Christ, and ask for His help in getting back on track.

Love is the motivator that keeps you faithful.

One of my favorite verses (just fyi, I have hundreds of favorite verses!) is in 2 Thessalonians 3:5 which says “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ.”

Whenever I’ve been in one of those periods of time listed above… the stumble and fall from the path times, or the backslidden times, or the doldrums, where nothing seems to be moving in my faith walk, I pray this verse. “Lord, direct my heart back to you. Direct my heart back to your love. Direct my heart back to the patient waiting for Christ. Direct me back to faithful walking with You dear Lord.” Sometimes I’ve had to pray that prayer multiple times but God has always answered that prayer. He has never left me or forsaken me, so why would I ever want to leave or forsake Him. I wouldn’t. I love Him.

I hope to hear those wonderful words one day from my Father in Heaven, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!”

But my truest motivation, and why I want to be so faithful, is because I am so greatly Loved.
And so are you.