Are You a Vessel for God?

The false teaching that we have to earn our salvation through works.
The false assumption that once we make the decision to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can just sit back, relax, live life any way we want to, and still be assured of eternal life in paradise.

We can't earn our way into heaven; only God can grant it. We can't just chillax and not do anything; God calls us to respond to the calling to be holy as He is holy - to love the things He loves, to hate the things he hates, to cry for the things that shatters His heart.

It's funny that the action-verbs that came to mind ("to love", "to hate", "to cry") signify actions that aren't conjured up by the will. They are all responses to something else. We don't choose to love, we don't choose to hate, we don't choose to cry. The heart that elicits these responses aren't created out of our own will. Only God can give us a heart that feels and reacts the same way His does.

Yet at the same time, for us to develop a heart like God's, our will has to take part in the process. If we don't allow God (a preposterous thought, since we have no authority over God to let him do something) to transform us, if we don't choose to empty ourselves out so that He can (another absurd word choice) fill us with His Spirit, we won't change.

In Living Life it says, "We are the vessels through which God fulfills and perfects all things."

Out of curiosity, I looked up the word "vessel". As expected, there was more than a single definition. One was, "a ship or boat, a craft for traveling on water." Another was, "a hollow or concave utensil, as a cup, bowl, pitcher, or vase, used for holding liquids or other contents." Both definitions fit quite well, no?


So I ask you.

In terms of the boat: "Are you moving in God's direction?"
In terms of the bowl: "Are you empty of yourself and full of the Spirit?"