You Don’t Have to Be Perfect, Just Pure, to Be Used By God
By Rick Warren
“If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work” (2 Timothy 2:21 NLT).
If you want to be used by God, purify your heart.
You don’t have to be a perfect person, but you do have to have a pure heart. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:21, “If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work” (NLT).
God uses all kinds of people. He uses shy people. He uses outgoing people. He uses people from all different races, ages, stages of life, and backgrounds. He uses men and women. God will use plain vessels, and he’ll use ornate vessels. He’ll use big vessels and small vessels. But there is one thing that God will not use: He will not use a dirty vessel. You have to be clean on the inside.
How do you do that? How do you purify yourself? You do it through a simple word: confession. Augustine said, “The confession of bad works is the beginning of good works.” The Bible says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing” (GNT).
The word confess in Greek is the word homologeo. Homo means “same,” and logeo means “to speak.” So homologeo literally means “to speak the same about my sin that God does.” It means you agree with him: “God, you’re right. It wasn’t a faux pas. It wasn’t a mistake. It was a sin. It was wrong.” It doesn’t mean you try to bargain with God (“I’ll never do it again”). It doesn’t mean you try to bribe God (“I promise to read my Bible every day if you’ll forgive me”).
You just admit it.
That may seem too simple to you. You may say, “All I’ve got to do is admit it, and God will forgive me?” Yes! It’s called grace!
Here’s what I suggest you do if you really want to be used by God: Take time this week to sit down with a pen and a pad of paper, and say, “God, what’s wrong in my life? Show me. I’m going to write it down, and I’m going to admit it. I’m going to confess it to you.” Then, when God gives you an idea, write it down.
The first time I did this, I thought I was going to write a book! And I’ve done this many times since. Make a list, and then write 1 John 1:9 over it and say, “God, I admit these to you. These are wrong. I don’t want them in my life.” Ask God to cleanse your life. God will forgive you!
This is the starting point to being used by God. You must purify your heart.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
The Purpose Driven Live: What on Earth am I Here For?
Discover the secret to a successful life!
God wants you to live your life in the way he designed it to be lived.
He wants you to know what works best in your relationships, at work, with your health—and how to maintain peace and balance in your life.
We want to help you do that by sending you a copy of Pastor Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For. It’s our gift thank you for your donation today.
This valuable resource can help you:
• Understand how much God loves you
• Believe that God wants you to succeed
• Embrace the meaning and purpose of your life
• Prepare you for eternity
Request your copy of The Purpose Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For when you give below to help more people worldwide find daily hope in Jesus.
May it help you move from a life of mere survival to a life of significance—the life you were meant to live!
This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
You can listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.