Vessel of Honor

“I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”  1 Corinthians 9:27 (NLT)

I am a poor gardener and I have this tree in my backyard that reproduces incredibly fast.  I’ve lived in my house for almost five years now and there are a couple 15-foot trees in my backyard that were not there when I moved in.  They are growing in places I do not want.  Now, I have to chop them down and find some way to keep them from growing back.  Why?  Because I didn’t take care of them when they were 3-inch samplings, that’s why.  When their roots were shallow and I could have ripped them out with one hand, I ignored them.  That’s why we need to discipline ourselves now.   Just like my unwanted trees started small and got bigger, your small problems get bigger.

If you’re older, start fixing the problems before they get any bigger.  If you’re younger, fix the problems while they are small and manageable.  Discipline your body to do what it should.  If you have a little problem with lying, work on it now before no one trusts you.  If you have a little problem with staring at beautiful women, discipline your eyes to look away before you get addicted to porn.  Always broke?  Practice saving money and cutting costs.  Always late?  Start aiming to be early.  Eating more than is health?  Cut back a little at each meal.  Trying to be “thin” by starving your self?  That can be addicting.  Get someone to help you.  Change your definition of “thin” to “heavier than I am right now.”  Focus on pleasing God instead of the mirror.  Can’t keep your promises?  Make fewer promises and only make promises you can keep.

Why is this important?  Doesn’t God love us even with our flaws?  Well, yes, He does, but our flaws are what people know us by.  We can’t be effective telling people about Jesus if they are distracted by our faults.  A person may be thinking, “Isn’t this the dude that borrowed my CD and never returned it?” or “Isn’t this the girl that lied to her friends to protect her image?” or “Isn’t this the guy who was checking out the action with the rest of us yesterday?”  What a sad day it would be if you told someone about Jesus and he called you a hypocrite.

That being said, you must not, must not, MUST NOT hide your flaws.  Hide the problems and you’ll be worse than a hypocrite; you’ll be fake.  Admit to yourself you have issues.  Confront the problems.  Train yourself out of bad habits by replacing them with good ones.  Enlist the help of your minister and parents.  Stay away from tempting situations and people.  Pray to God to help you deal with them.  Than you can not only LOOK like you don’t have a problem, you can actually NOT have a problem.  Then you can tell people about Jesus and not be disqualified.

God, give us the strength to face our faults.  Give us the strength to discipline ourselves.  Give us the courage to go to others when we need help.  But most importantly, Father God, remove the desires that are in us that want what you do not like.

It’s not easy to start anything though it’s even harder to finish.  When it comes to telling others about Jesus, I suggest starting by telling yourself.  Ask yourself why you want to share Jesus.  If you have problems sharing Jesus you may want to re-examine the arrangement you have with Him.  After all, the whole point is that you were God’s enemy.  Sounds strange, doesn’t it?  Of course, it wasn’t so much that God who was angry at us, but us who wanted nothing to do with God.  But then that changed.  We accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  We allowed Him to change us.  Now we’re able to be God’s friend and even adopted children.  We have a hope so great we might bust.  And that is why we must share; the more the merrier.  We want all of our friends and family to have this hope, too.  We want all of our aquiantences to have this.  We want everyone we ever bump into to have this hope.  But honestly sometimes we don’t.  Sometimes we don’t really care.  Sometimes we aren’t even paying attention.  And that’s why we must talk to ourselves about it.  That’s why we must talk to God and ask for help.  We get so easily distracted. 

God, please help us to share about you and remove anything in us that might hinder that.