Scripture Reflections
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (New International Version)
23May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The spirit, soul and body refer not so much to the distinct parts of a person as to the entire being of a person. This expression is Paul's way of saying that God must be involved in every aspect of our life. It is wrong to think that we can separate our spiritual life from everything else, obeying God only in some ethereal sense or living for him only one day each week. Christ must control all of us, not just a "religious part". (Life Application Bible)
Matthew 23:11-12
11The greatest among you must be a servant.12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Jesus challenged society's norms. To Him, greatness comes from serving-giving of your self to help God and others. Service keeps us aware of other's needs, and it stops us from focusing only on ourselves. Jesus came as a servant. What kind of greatness do you seek? (Life Application Bible)
2 Timothy 2:21 (Amplified Bible)
21So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honorable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.
Here Paul urged Timothy to be the kind of person Christ could use for his noblest purposes. Don't settle for less than God's highest and best. Allow God to use you as an instrument of His will.