Being a vessel for God’s glory goes beyond what you think of yourself or what people think of you. God can look beyond all that and use you for whatever purpose He has created you for. Sometimes we think that we need a perfect performance to be a vessel for God’s glory. Once I get rid of all these weaknesses, once I overcome these areas that I’m struggling in, then I will have God’s favour, and then be a vessel for God’s glory.
In the book of 1 Chronicles 16:9… The scripture says, “The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him” God is not looking for people who have perfect performance, perfect behaviour, or people who never make a mistake to be a vessel for His glory. He is looking for those who are right in their heart towards Him.
That means you may make mistakes, but you have a desire to please God. Deep down, you want to honour Him with your life. It’s your heart that matters. God looks on the inside. He is more pleased with someone with a right heart who makes mistakes than someone with a wrong heart and performs perfectly all the time.
We see this in the scripture, the Pharisees kept all the religious rules. They prayed at the right time, gave the exact amount required, and went to great lengths to perform the religious ceremonies exactly like they were supposed to. They were seen as people who had a broken and a contrite heart before the Lord!
However, they were never vessels for God’s glory because their heart wasn’t right. They were self-righteous, proud, and critical, and even though they performed perfectly, Jesus said to them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” Matthew 23:27
What God can see that others cannot see is the heart. To be a vessel for God’s glory is beyond the outside; the performance, the behaviour, the background. God looks beyond all that. It’s the heart that matters before God. “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1Samuel 16:7
Your performance may not be perfect, and your behaviour, your attitude, and your character may need some improvement, we all do. But God is saying, “You are a vessel for my glory because your heart is sincere. Your heart is to do the right thing. Your heart is pliable and moldable, so I’m going to show myself strong in your life”.
Now, the key is you have to learn to accept yourself while you are in the process of changing. It does no good to go around beating yourself up because of flaws and weaknesses, living guilty and condemned because you are not where you think you should be in life. The scripture says God changes us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). You may not realize it, but you are in a phase of glory right now. Learn to enjoy the glory that you are in while God is changing you and taking you to the next level of glory.
Why don’t you stop beating yourself up because you don’t perform perfectly all the time, and start accepting yourself because your heart is right? When you live guilty and condemned, feeling wrong on the inside, it only makes you do worse.
It takes a mature attitude to say, “I am happy with who I am even though I’m not where I want to be. I still have these issues, I still struggle in some areas, but I know I’m growing. I know I’m improving. My heart is fully committed to God, so I’m not going to beat myself up. I’m going to enjoy where I am while I’m in the process of being changed”.
God will not say they missed church last Sunday, let me withhold my blessings this week”. No, God is not waiting for you to perform perfectly before He can show you His goodness. “The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
When your heart is fully committed to God, He will not only give you the grace to overcome things that are holding you back, He will give you the favour to reach your highest potential. You are reading this message right now and you have a desire to please God. That’s what God is looking at.
It’s your heart that matters, and when you have the right image of God, you realize that He is for you, that He is not basing His goodness on your perfect performance, then all the guilt, the condemnation, the feelings that something is wrong on the inside, they don’t stand a chance. You will put your shoulders back, and hold your head up high knowing that just like the disciples, God handpicked you, not because you were perfect, but because He could see your heart.
DEPENDENCY ON GOD!
When you say, “God, I love you. I need you. I can’t do this on my own. Help me to make good decisions,” when you show your dependency on Him like that, He helps your heart to be right before Him. You go through the day talking to Him under your breath, thanking Him for life, health, family, and opportunity, you go to bed with a grateful attitude saying, “Lord, thank you for another beautiful day,”
I wonder how many times God see us make mistakes but because our heart is right, God causes it to all work out and never says anything about it. We made a wrong turn, we got involved in something we had no business being involved in, but God looked at our heart, and didn’t hold it against us.
The scripture says in James 1:5, “God will give you wisdom without finding fault”. God is not a fault-finder. He doesn’t go around accusing, saying, “I told you so. You should have known that was going to happen. You are on your own now”. No, God is full of mercy. You deserve judgment but because your heart is right, God will show you the favour that you didn’t deserve.
That’s the God we serve. It’s beyond your performance. Maybe you too have made a mess of things, you are not where you thought you would be in life, and you brought the challenges on yourself. You are thinking, “Oh pastor, God is never going to help me. It’s my fault”. But God is not judging you based on what you have done. He is not looking at past mistakes or past failures, He is looking at your heart… is your heart fully committed to him? Is your heart right before Him?
You may not be sure how God sees you or what He thinks of you…Instead of running away from Him, run to Him and say, “God, I need you in my life. I want to do what’s right. God, help me to become who you have created me to be,” when you take one step toward God, He will come running toward you.
The scripture says, “Draw close to God and He will draw close to you”. (James 4:7-10) He won’t disappoint you. He will turn situations around. He will help you get back on the right path. He will even clean up a mess that you made. Jesus admonished the religious leaders. They did everything right, but their heart was wrong.
Beloved, it’s your heart that matters; what is the motive behind what you do? If God’s goodness was only based on our perfect behaviour, none of us would have a chance because we all fall short. We all have flaws and weaknesses, but when your heart is fully committed to God, you may make mistakes, but when you make one move to come back, God won’t say, no!
He won’t say to a person tracing his or her step back “I have seen how you have been living. You don’t deserve my goodness”. He will say, because your heart is right, I will show myself strong in your life. That means He will forgive you when you don’t deserve it. He will show you a favour even though you didn’t earn it. He will clean up a mess that you made.
Don’t go through life feeling wrong on the inside. You may have made mistakes. Good news, none of that changed your name. You are still a child of the Most High God. He has already approved you, now get up every morning and start approving yourself.
Put on that approval, shake off the guilt, and the condemnation, and keep your heart fully committed to God. If you do this, I decree and declare that God is going to show out strong in your life. You are going to see favour, healing, restoration, and mercy. God is going to turn the mess around and set you on a new path toward the fullness of your destiny in Jesus’ name
“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.”’
