Good morning,
like fragile clay jars
Have you ever wondered why God made us out of clay when stone or iron or even steel would have held up so much better? I think that most of us are aware of the growing pressure that we are facing during these very challenging times in our world and in our lives. One of the strongest aspects of our sin nature in the desire to stay in control of our lives no matter what is going on around us. We do everything in our power to maintain the strength and health of our bodies in order to be ready for the challenges of living in a dangerous germ filled world. We send our kids to school and keep going on developing our own minds and skills so that we will be up to the challenges of finding and keeping the jobs we need to keep on paying our bills and meeting our personal needs. We also keep looking for a god who will fill the void in our lives so that we will feel safe when we are threatened by the overload of living in what seems like a dark and out of control world. What we long for is light and strength and then sadly discover we are just made of clay.
The Bible tells us that God did it this way on purpose. We know that God is light, not darkness. When we became part of God’s eternal family, God planted his glorious light in our hearts. Since God wants us to look more and more like Jesus, why did he need us to be made of clay? Paul gave us the reason when he wrote, This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. It seems that our sin issues still are based on our strength, but what the world around us needs is the proof of a power that is greater than our human body or mind. So when we are pressed on every side, we may be cracked, but not crushed. When we are perplexed, we don’t end up in despair. When we are hunted or haunted, God never abandons us. We may get knocked down, but we don’t end up in pieces on the floor. All the challenges and suffering are part of sharing in the suffering and death of Jesus. The outcome of all these overwhelming things is that the light that lives inside of us, God’s Holy Spirit, will keep showing through the cracks and lighting up the darkness all around us just like Jesus did during his time here on earth. Those watching this process will be either drawn or repulsed by what they see, but they will know that what happened was way bigger than our fragile clay pots can stand alone. Dear Lord, please keep using us to shine out your light into our dark worlds.
2 Corinthians 4: 6 For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
Roy Wisner
