There was one swordsman in ancient Japan who favored a certain sword; it was a Muramasa blade, one of the best and finest swords in all Japan until now. He always uses that sword in battle and end up winning. But one day, after a furious yet victorious battle, his sword was chipped all over, it was no longer battle-worthy; it can no longer cut; it was already useless. Yet, the swordsman still wanted to use the sword. Thus, he took his sword to the Muramasa sword-smith for repair. The sword-smith, after inspecting the sword, has only one solution; break it down, melt it, mold it to a sword again, temper it then sharpen it. The swordsman agreed. After some painstaking time, the sword was repaired. It was presented back to the swordsman. The sword was better than before; it became sharper and light-weight and the hilt was well-balanced; in short, the sword transformed into a better one. It was not only useable but became beautiful also.
The Broken Man
I believe that God breaks us down everyday. In every situation where He sees that we can’t be used, He breaks us. In every decision where He sees that we have made unworthy, He breaks us. In every negative outburst of emotion that He sees as inappropriate, He breaks us. In everything that He sees that is not good, He breaks us.
The Lord breaks us to realize what we have done. Examples of His breaking:
· Broken assets (financial)
· Broken bodies (physical)
· Broken hearts (emotional/relationship)
· Broken thinking (mental)
· Broken spirit (spiritual)
The Meltdown
Like a potter with a broken pot, the Lord has to melt us down in preparation for the next process. How will we know we are being melted? If we begin to feel that we are humiliated for what we have done then we are being melted. God melt us down for us to contemplate on what we have done.
But God will not leave us alone during this process, He will send the Comforter, He will allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to melt us. Like a sword being melted, the melting procedure will remove the impurities that are present, cleansing us in the process.
Molding the Perfect Vessel
Like clay being molded to become a pot, the Lord molds us to become His perfect vessel. But He has to use His hands. As Christians, there is nothing more comforting than feeling the hands of God touching us. But some Christians don’t want to be molded. They want to remain in their humiliated state, never wanting to change their situation. By allowing God’s hand to mold us, we know that we are molded according to His specifications not ours; and His specifications are better than ours; the result will be greater than what we expect.
The Faith of a Broken Vessel (Matthew 8)
There was a certain man, a leper, who was living a sickly and humiliated life. He was ashamed for what he has because what he has was something repulsive and revolting. The sight of a leper makes one stomach turn. They were avoided and almost discarded by the society. This man was eventually hopeless in his situation. He felt rejected and unwanted.
Then one day, a rumor came to him, news of a certain Galilean who has powers to heal. He thought for a moment, “It might be true but I can’t go there because of my situation”. He saw his leprous body and stayed put. He wanted to be healed but he felt ashamed and thought that people will just ridicule him.
As the days gone by, something came up; a great multitude was coming. This was unusual because they were following a certain man, a man neither of great stature nor position but of power and authority. When the multitude drew closer and he saw the man that the multitude was following, something happened to him. He couldn’t see a man; what he saw is different from the multitude; he saw hope walking in the flesh; he saw victory approaching him. He couldn’t contain himself any longer. He knew his position. He knew his sickness. He knew that people will despise him because of who he was and what he had become. But it didn’t matter to him. He knew he must cross the bridge of humiliation. He knew what must be done.
What happened next was rather unexpected. The leper suddenly went towards this man; this glorious man; the man known as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David. But instead of asking for healing, he worshipped Him. From my perspective, I believe that Jesus and the leper were left alone. Think about it, the multitude was dispersed because a leper went in their midst! Thus, the leper has all the time in the world to worship Jesus. Then he spoke and said to Jesus, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean”. Take note of what he said (in order):
a. he honored Jesus by acknowledging Him
b. he asked for His approval
c. he asked for cleansing.
What made him do this? What pushed the leper to do the things he did? He was broken up by God; he had the sickness in order to break him. He was melted by God; he was humiliated so badly that he began to seek for something that would lift him up. Then, he saw Jesus, the Hope that would answer his prayers.
Then, after hearing the leper, Jesus put forth His hand and touched him, saying “I will; be thou clean.” God has put forth His hand and began to mold him. The leper was willing to be touched and molded by God and as Jesus touched him, he claimed the healing and his faith has made him clean. The Lord molded him to be the person God wanted him to be; a person who is blessed and clean.
The Person that God wants you to be
The leper’s secret was simple; his formula of success was very effective. He approached the problem as anyone would. But WHAT HE DID with the problem was different from what some of us do. This is the leper’s formula of success:
· Position - the leper knew that if he will focus on his sickness he can’t move on. He allowed God to break him and melt him down to what the Lord wanted him to be.
· Submission - he admitted that Jesus is the only answer and no other process, method or formula could ever deal with his situation.
· Approach - he came near to Jesus. He didn’t wait for Jesus to go to him; he went to Jesus removing all fear aside.
· Aggression - he worshipped Jesus not thinking of the eyes staring at him. He was aggressive that he removed the shame of what he will do.
· Permission - he asked for the approval of Jesus. He never went ahead of God’s decision. He subjected himself and asked the willingness of Jesus.
· Requisition - he submitted his request personally to the Lord. He asked what he wanted. He had given his application for healing.
· Claim - he claimed for the healing.
The formula needs some participation and effort. The leper made a great deal of effort and pain just to approach Jesus. He knew that he might be rejected and his presentation be ignored. But still he tried. He knew that faith without works is dead. He had to try. He had done everything else and failed. He had to try. He heard what Jesus of Nazareth had done in other places; how He healed. He had to try.
The Blessed Vessel of God
God designed man to be filled with blessing. He created man last so that everything was prepared for him. But sin destroyed that. Though we became separated from God because of sin, Jesus became our bridge to God. Thus reviving the position of blessing that was originally stored for Adam.
God wants to mold us into a blessed vessel; a vessel filled with blessing. He wanted us to become a source of blessing to other people. God’s plans are so unique that the effects are global rather than personal. All we have to do is to be broken, melted and molded by God.
Brethren, it is time to remove our pride and allow the Lord to hold us, break us, melt us and mold us into the best vessel God wanted us to be.
BROKEN VESSEL
By Ptr. JC Balao