Fine China

I have quite a few friends who are getting married, or who were just married, and I can almost guarantee that one of the gifts they will receive, or have received, is fine china.  What's the use?  I never really considered it a very practical gift.  Yea, it looks pretty, but how often do you actually use it?  It usually ends up staying in the box, so it doesn't break, until you can afford a house large enough to place it on display.  Then once you get that house you have to find a china cabinet you like.  Once that hunt is over and it is all assembled, the dishes usually just sit there, on shelfs, behind panes of glass, for others to look at and admire.  Ok sure, on those special holidays or occasions when you have someone over for dinner, and you want to make a good impression, you may pull out the find china, give it a quick rinse in the sink to knock off the dust, and set a dinner table that looks as if it was a cut out of one of Martha Stewart's magazines.  So other than making your guests feel very special, I ask the same question again...What's the use?

So yesterday, I was siting in church when the pastor started to speak about fine china.  It piqued my interest because I could not see how fine china could relate to what were talking about.  But as he continued on it started to register...We are God's fine china.  But wait a minute!?!?  Fine china isn't hardly used, so how is being a plate, saucer or tea cup, in the cabinet of God's fine china, supposed to make any sense?

Well for starters, china, especially fine china, is set apart.  You usually don't store it with your other dishes, it has its own special place.  Whether that place is in a cabinet or hanging on a wall, it has a specific place that it can call home.  You also handle fine china differently.  It isn't thrown into the dish washer, but instead it is hand washed, dried off and placed back in its spot.  We are God's fine china, we are set apart.  Once we accept Christ into our lives, we are moved out of the dishwasher with the other dirty dishes and placed in a new home.  We, as Christians, no longer belong to this world (the dishwasher), but instead are given a new home (the china cabinet).  We may occasionally get dirty again, but we are washed off and put back on display.

But that still doesn't answer the question I had about china..."What is the point, to collect dust and be used a few times a year?"  Then it dawned on me...God doesn't store us in a box or a cabinet.  He places us on display, in a better than Martha Stewart way.  We are used to impress, not only the ones invited for dinner, but the whole world.  God puts us on display to show off His glory and power.  We are placed on God's table every single day to be gawked at, judged, make an impression, but most importantly to serve a purpose.

You may be a serving platter, plate, salad bowl, saucer, tea cup, or even a butter knife.  But we can take stalk in knowing that however we were crafted, we are God's masterpiece placed on display to serve a purpose.

"For we are God's masterpiece, He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Sometimes we may feel as though we are sitting in a box, or stuck on a shelf waiting to be placed on the table.  It is very easy to slip into the mindset that ..."sure God has a purpose for me, but I have no idea what that is yet," or, "I'm not equipped enough to be helpful or useful in the furthering of Christ's kingdom."   Those thoughts will continue to weigh you down until you realize that they are total and complete lies.  We have a purpose, we were created with good works already planned for us to do.  God notices us and wants to use us when He is setting His table.  All we have to do is ask to be taken out of the cabinet and sparkle our brilliant sheen so the world will marvel at how great our God really is!!!

☆ We are God's fine china, set apart for the world to see ☆