Ignoble Pursuits

In a large house, there are vessels not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay.  Some are for noble purposes, some are for ignoble purposes.  If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, and useful to the Master for any good work.

-2 Timothy 2:20-21

You know what's interesting about these verses?  I've always thought that Paul was referring to discarding the clay and wooden vessels.  As in, if you cleanse yourself from your sin, then you can be noble and holy, but that's completely off base. First, we know that we can't cleanse ourselves from sin, only Christ can.  His life, death, and resurrection are what removes our sins, not what we do. 

Secondly, we can't make ourselves holy.  Paul even says that, when he says we will be made holy.  That's not an active verb, but a very passive verb; it's done to us, not by us.

Thirdly, the wood and clay vessels have both noble and ignoble purposes.  Look carefully at the wording, and you'll note that Paul is addressing the everyday vessels.  The mention of gold and silver is just so there's no confusion.  "When I speak about noble purposes," he's saying, "I'm not talking about gold and silver, but wood and clay." 

Lastly, anything that God pronounces clean is clean.  When God appeared to Peter on a rooftop in Jerusalem, He said as much.  Peter had a hangup about Gentiles, and God said, "Don't.  Even Gentiles can be cleansed by me."

When we become followers of Christ, we are pronounced clean by God - all areas of our lives.  But that doesn't mean that all areas of our lives are bearing fruit for the Gospel.  Not all areas of our lives are pointing to Christ, and so those areas must go.  It's what Christ means in John 15 when He talks about pruning the branches of the vine:  "Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, so that it will be even more fruitful" (2).

No one on earth kills plants faster than I do.  I actually killed a cactus once because I didn't water it enough.  Let me repeat that:  I didn't give my cactus enough water.  You only have to water the things a dozen times a year, and I failed to do even that.  But even I know that sometimes a branch that is living needs to be cut on once in a while, because it can still have dead growth:  twigs and whatnot that just won't blossom, that are diverting nutrients away from the flowers and fruit, preventing them from being even more fruitful.

I have some sins that have been a part of my life for decades now.  They're comfortable in their stability.  Can I be honest with you?  The idea of having them cut out scares me, because anytime you remove a part of your life, it hurts.  But if I love my security and my sin more than I love Christ, then I'm worshiping the wrong god, and it needs to go.

What's more important to you, God, or your idols?