Article: GOD’S CHOSEN VESSEL | Andrew Phil Joseph

In real life, there are many kinds of vessels in a house. Examples, flower vessels and cooking vessels. A flower vessel’s purpose is to be able to look nice and be able to hold a flower or plant in it. A cooking vessel is to be able to withstand higher heats and be able to be cleaned easily as it will be used a lot. Each vessel has its own purpose and they are only supposed to be used in that situation only, an example can be that you may put a flower in a cooking vessel and put your food in a flower vessel, end result won’t be very promising. This is why we have to consider different aspects like quality, design and durability. All of these factors need to come together when choosing a vessel, whether it is for cooking or to hold flowers. This is the same when God chooses a vessel. He needs to see if you are able to accomplish what tasks he entrusts in you.

In the bible, we can see that God used many people as His vessel for many different purposes. God has seen certain traits/ characteristics in their life. Let’s see some of these traits.

The first trait/ characteristic that you need to have is faith. All believers need to have faith in God. *To be used by Him, you need to have strong faith in the God, who called you.* Knowing God is in control is one of the first steps to becoming a chosen vessel. Faith is a characteristic that every believer should try to understand. God will never put you through something that you can’t handle. Imagine a small child who loves to draw and sing, this child never misbehaves and is always honest and listens to his parents. His parents know that he loves to draw and do art. If the dad makes his son enter a drawing competition, that father knows that his son is capable to do well or even win the competition. Let’s change the situation, the son wants to enter a martial arts competition, without any training or any past martial arts history. His father won’t let him join this contest as he knows his son will get hurt as he didn’t train or have a past experience with martial arts. If an earthly father, who can fail you at any moment, cares this much, how much more will the heavenly father, who will never leave nor forsake you know what you can and can’t go through.

A person that shows great amount of faith is Abraham as he literally was following God as he didn’t even know were he was travelling to. That wasn’t the only leap of faith that Abraham has taken. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Abraham didn’t ask why or didn’t question God. *God saw the amount of faith in Abraham that he was even willing to sacrifice his own son* shows that Abraham is one of the most faithful person in the bible. Faith and obedience lead him to be a great vessel for God.

*Selflessness* is the next trait we need to be a chosen vessel. God needs someone who is willing to humble his and her selves to God’s work. Being selfless means that you care about other’s wishes and needs more than yours. Our God has the same concept. We must do God’s will as he knows what is best for us. God’s will is very important as his will might save millions of lives or it might save just one person. Even if it is only one soul that is one for Christ, we have a reason to celebrate.

Moses is one of the greatest examples in the bible. In Hebrews 11: 24 to 26, “it was by faith that Moses, when he grew up refused to be the song of the Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than the own treasures of Egypt.”

This means that *Moses was the next in line for Pharaoh in Egypt, but the bible says he denied it,* and it made him to be a useful vessel in the hand’s of God for the deliverance of God’s people.

Paul is another example for selflessness. He is a very interesting character in the bible. Before Jesus appeared to him, he was a non-believer and even killed Christians because of the zeal for his religion. Before becoming a follower of Christ, Paul was a prime example of righteous Jew. He was a Pharisee like his father. He was educated by a respected rabbi named Gamalie. The whole Jewish nation was expecting Paul to be the successor of Gamalie, but God chose him for his kingdom. Until now, they have no successor of Gamalie. ( that’s the reason why the Jews were angry with Paul).

In Philippians 3:4- 6, “though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!

5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.”

*Paul gave up all his credentials because when he realised* as what Acts 9:15 says “He is a chosen vessel to bring the name of the Lord before the Gentiles”

Paul didn’t even care that if he preached about the gospel that it could even cost his own life, he still just wanted to serve God’s will. He served God for a long time but then he was beheaded but he will never be forgotten and has labelled himself as one of the most selfless person in the new testament.

Loyalty to God is another trait of a Chosen vessel. The meaning of loyalty is to be devoted. As a believer, we need to be loyal to God. God used *Joseph as a vessel to become a great blessing for his family and the nation because of his loyalty to God.* When situations came to sin against God, he refused by saying in Genesis 39:9,”how could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.” *As young people, we must be careful of all Satan’s traps.* God wants to use us as a vessel for his glory.

Another person who shows great loyalty is Job. Job is one of my most favourite characters in the bible. This is because he has many traits and doesn’t only show a great example of loyalty but also faith, trust and love to God no matter the situation. Job was a very loyal person as anyone else in that situation would have cursed God and hoped to die, even his friends and wife told him that this is God and that Job had sinned and he should repent to God, and his wife told him to curse God so he could just die, but Job didn’t listen to his friends or wife. Job kept faith in God and he was loyal to God through it all. *Job got everything he lost because he was loyal and didn’t turn his back to God.*

God can chose certain people for different tasks, someone might want to be a musician for God but God might want them to be a prophet. This is because everything God does has a plan and he wants to execute that plan. You might think you know what is best, but He is a God that knew you before you were born and even knows how many hairs are on your head.

God will want specific people to do different things for his work. We can’t have too many pastors or worship leaders or apostles. Each of those roles have a set task to do for God. Some examples are evangelists are to help bring people to God and a pastor is to help the believers grow in the word, a teacher helps believers understand the word. Each of these roles are important. Each person should do their part or else the teachings about God will fall apart. It is like a well put machine, each part must work at its maximum or else the machine will fail.

In a football team, each player needs to do their part. The forwards need to score goals, midfielders need to pass the ball to the forwards, the defenders need to stop the enemy team from shooting and the goalkeeper is the last line of defence to stop the enemy team from scoring. Even if one of the players don’t play at full potential, the team will fall apart and lose.

CONCLUSION

This is why each member of the church is a chosen vessel for God, whether you are a very big evangelist or an usher in church, you are both still making a difference for God. Let us do our role in the best possible way as chosen vessels.

Andrew Phil Joseph