Clay pots

Did'ja ever stop and think about a clay pot representing our bodies, which are earthen vessels? 2 Corinthians 4:7 tells us, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (KJV)." The NIV calls it treasures in jars of clay,

This was the Sunday school lesson I taught some years ago. I took a beautiful vase that I had and used it as an illustration. It was beautiful on the outside. And as I told my class, our lives may look beautiful before others, but inside are things we are ashamed of. Inside might be dishonesty, craftiness, handling the word of God deceitfully, selfishness, and many other things we hide from the world. When we empty our vessels of all the things that are keeping us from being what God wants us to be, then we can be filled with the Holy Spirit and be the treasure God wants us to be! The clay pot I had was weak and fragile, but weak human beings can be the instruments of the power of God.

Remember the story in Jeremiah 18? The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "'Arise and go down to the potter's house and there I will cause you to hear my words.' Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?' Says the Lord, 'Look. As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.'"

What the potter makes depends on the quality of clay. What God makes of his people depends on their response, so the quality of a people limits what God will do with them. As the clay was not suitable for the potter's design he planned, he could make something else from the clay, but not the originally intended vessel. I think God has plans for our lives. But as we resist, turn and go our own way, when we come back to God, he takes us into entirely different directions from what he originally planned for us, and we probably miss out on some of the best blessings.

I love my little book, "Coffee Break With God." I have used it before in some columns, but this one goes along with what I am writing today. The title of this one was, "What Shape Are You In?" It brought out how clay pots of all shapes and sizes were valuable tools in ancient households. They were used to store water and olive oil. Some were filled with grain and other foods. Homemakers used clay pots for cooking, and shallow pottery bowls were used at mealtime. In the evening the homes were lit by clay lamps. Potters were important to the economic life of ancient villages.

Quoting a modern potter, this is how she described her craft: "Both my hands shaped this pot. And, the place where it actually forms is a place of tension between the pressure applied from the outside and the pressure of the hand on the inside. That's the way my life has been. Sadness and death and misfortune and the love of friends, and all the things that happened to me that I didn't choose. All of that influenced my life. But there are things I believe in about myself, my faith in God and the love of some friends that worked on the insides of me. My life, like this pot, is the result of what happened on the outside and what was going on inside of me. Life, like this pot, comes to be in places of tension."

What shape are you in? Have you emptied your vessel of all the things that were taking the place of the wonderful treasures God has in store for you? There is joy in knowing the Lord! I am an heir to all the treasures God has in heaven and you can be, too!

We don't need to let stress and responsibilities cause our house of clay to collapse. Remember. We are not to focus on our difficulties. We are to keep our eyes on eternity, realizing, as Paul did, that what we have here is only temporary.

God bless you! And I would like to invite you to my church, Grace Fellowship on Highway 34E, just 4 miles from Marble Hill. Our Sunday morning worship is at 10 a.m. You will enjoy our praise and worship team, with a message from Pastor Monnie Jones to lift you up. Our Wednesday service is at 6:30 p.m. I call it Family Night. Sis. Debbie (or Bro. Mike) has the Bible study. Kids have activities and teaching downstairs. Come and join us. God will be here! Will you?

LOUISE HUGHES is a longtime Bollinger County resident who has contributed to The Banner Press for more than 40 years.