"Paper Plates or Fine China?"

Scripture Passage

2 Timothy 2:1 – 4:18

Scripture Focus

If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21 NLT)

Observation

In 2 Timothy 2, Paul illustrates from the wealthy homes of his day where there were two sets of dishes—everyday dishes and the 1st century equivalent of fine china…special utensils “made of gold and silver.” His application remains powerful in the 21st century. The best dishes, of course, are used only on the most honorable of occasions. “If you keep yourself pure,” Paul writes, “you will be a special utensil for honorable use” (2 Timothy 2:21 NLT).

I’m thinking today that, for all its beauty, Paul’s metaphor probably doesn’t pack as much muscle for us as it would have for Timothy and his contemporaries. You see, most middle class American homes actually have both everyday and special occasion dishes. Such luxury would have been unthinkable for most every 1st century believer.

For the average person to think about two sets of dishes in Paul’s day might compare to me imagining the opportunity to strap in the driver’s seat for the Daytona 500 or the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It’s imaginable, but barely so—and only in my wildest fantasies.

That’s just how spectacular it should have seemed to 1st century believers that God could use them powerfully, and just how spectacular it ought to seem to us. What would you give…what would you do…what would you sacrifice to experience your biggest dream? Even all that is not too much to lay aside in order to become a “special utensil…ready for the Master to use you for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:21 NLT)

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