More Than Bread 2/22/08

2 Timothy 2:20-21
20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21 If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

In our house, we use a lot of paper plates. They are easy to microwave stuff on and you don't have to wash them. You just throw them away. But if we are going to entertain and want to impress, we have a whole set of really great dishes that look fabulous. Of course, some of them have never been used(I guess we aren't much on impressing folks). But as I read this passage, I thought about this in a little different light. Most of us, by nature, want to be seen and heard and admired even. And that isn't automatically a bad desire. But wouldn't it be far better to be useful instead of decorative? Don't worry too much about your visibility; work instead on your availability.