So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work. 2 Timothy 2:21
“When a man by means of charity and an intention towards God offers himself up to God in all his works and in all his living, to His honour and praise, and seeks rest in God beyond all things, then he must, with humility and patience and forgetfulness of himself, still await new riches and new gifts, with certain confidence: and still he must be untroubled, whether God gives to him or does not give. Thus a man makes himself ready and pleasing, so that he may receive the interior life of yearning for God. When the vessel is prepared, one pours into it the precious liquor. There is no more precious vessel than the loving soul, nor is there a more cordial drink than the grace of God. Thus shall man offer up to God all his works and all his life with a single intention towards God, and he shall rest, beyond intention, and beyond himself, and beyond all things, in the high unity where, without any mean, God and the loving spirit are united.”
Jan Van Ruysbroek in The Spiritual Espousals, translated by Eric Colledge (London: Faber and Faber, 1952) 90-91.
I likely got your attention with the “precious liquor” title. But the reality is that we are intended to be vessels that contain the greatest of all spirits. Are you a vessel for honor?
Let me give a biblical example lest this remain just a lofty thought. Consider Esther. She was an orphan girl who had nothing, then everything as queen. She risked everything for God.
In so doing, she helped her people go from destruction to deliverance. She’s fresh on my mind as we reflected on her story yesterday in lesson two for JOE India and will do it again tomorrow with JOE Malaysia.
“Humility and patience and forgetfulness” were necessary for Esther to “await new riches and new gifts, with certain confidence” not knowing whether God would give what she hoped for or not.
The key was for her to fast with her community. To set aside her desires and urge everyone to join her. When we make ourselves ready for God, through us He can do the impossible.
So, God help us with self preparation, as “There is no more precious vessel than the loving soul, nor is there a more cordial drink than the grace of God.” Make us vessels who dispense divine generosity.