God Just Keeps Reworking Our Clay

7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. (2 Cor. 4) 

The theme of the Potter and the clay plays its truth throughout scripture.  

We live our lives thinking that  we are our own person. 

We are convinced that we make of ourselves whatever we choose to be.

We think we are self-sufficient and earn our way by working for what we have.  

We live as independent intellectuals who function on intellect, logic, reason and a certain physical realities.

We blame and take blame.

We succeed and fail seemingly on our own. 

Thinking we are in complete charge of our lives.

However there is another hypothesis about this life we live.  

I use the word Hypothesis because it assumes more proof.  It is “a proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.”

Faith is always a form of hypothesis; because we can never prove its truth with the tools of reason, logic or further information. 

However the search for its truth has been in existence for centuries.  

When we live by faith, and not by reason or logic, we look beyond what is, to what God might be doing in the lives of those who believe in his possibilities.

I personally am convinced that God takes our imperfect clay beings and is continually reshaping us as we move from birth to death.

Just like we use the eraser to remove mistakes from our papers; God uses the reshaping of our clay to remove flaws and unfortunate behavior.

God know, as well as we know, that we will never be perfect.  That we will always need to be altered. and reformed, from time to time.  

The good news is that God never throws away the well used clay.  He just keeps the potter’s wheel moving as our lives progress. 

What we would be wise to understand is the our vessels — our bodies; are meant to be conduits, channels, through which God’s grace, love and forgiveness are meant to flow.

In order to be that kind of vessel, we must constantly be remade by the gentle hands of our maker.

⁸ Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;

  we are the clay, and you are our potter;

   we are all the work of your hand.(Isaiah 64)