Our family has been the recipients of some wonderful ceramic creations that were made by my daughter Breezie. Each one is so unique and unlike any other. I was admiring a pencil holder that sits by my computer at home and my mind drifted to several scriptures that describe the Father as a Master Craftsman and we are the work of his hands.
The most important thing to remember in this Christ- following lifestyle, is that Jesus called you right where you are, and wants to work with you to help you become all He intended you to be.
The ‘New Creation’ we are all called to be will look differently on each one of us and will cause us to live our best possible life.
In Pursuing God, we can sometimes get caught into the trap of trying to be something we’re not.
One of Breezie’s coffee mugs would make a terrible place to plant a rose bush! It was intended to hold a nice cup of coffee or tea!
We may think we can gain favor with God by acting like we think a ‘good Christian’ should act. Perhaps we know someone that we think is living the godly life and we try to imitate them. We see people that we think have it all together and we try to measure ourselves against them.
That’s pretty much the same thing as a bud vase trying to be coffee cup! It might kind of work, but it’s just not the use for which it was created!
Like in this picture, the third cup found a nice use- as a planter! No problem! But it was created to be a coffee cup. When it’s ‘Master’ goes looking for a cup for his evening tea, this cup is already doing something else!
Also, wouldn’t it be awkward if we tried to use a large flower pot for a mug of hot chocolate?
I believe we find our greatest fulfillment and satisfaction when we line up our lives with what the Master created us to be!
Isaiah 64:8
8 And yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay, and you are the potter.
We all are formed by your hand.
This verse from Isaiah affirms our status as God’s own children. He is the Daddy and wants to bless his children by molding them into the ‘perfect’ beings that he created them uniquely to be!
I think it’s a wonderful word picture in Genesis where the Bible says Adam was formed out of the ‘dust’- it’s also translated ground, soil, dirt, earth, etc…
I like images like this one, of the Potter that show messy, dirty hands. It speaks to me of a God that is involved in His project- rolls up His sleeves and gets to work on His creation. Its kind of hard to even separate the hands of the potter from the work He is creating!
More insight into the hand of God is seen in Jeremiah:
Jer 18:1-6 NLT
The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, 2 “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” 3 So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. 4 But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
5 Then the Lord gave me this message: 6 “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand
The first thing on your to–do list in becoming what God created you to be is to acknowledge that God is God and you are not!
As the Master Craftsman, God is always busy at the Potter’s wheel, shaping and molding us. You are his masterpiece! All the events of your life, both good and bad, are like the hand of the potter, shaping and forming you. I don’t like some of the ‘indentions’ that are in my vessel, but I accept them from his hand!
Isaiah 45:9 NLT
“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.
Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!...”
Sound familiar? When we push back against the Hand of God, complaining and questioning things in our lives, we are absurdly rebelling against the one that spoke the Universe into existence and calls us His own children! Again, in this picture- The Master’s hands are dirty! He doesn’t sit far off and wave a magic wand over us. He is actively involved in our formation!
Paul echoes this in Romans:
Romans 9:20-21 NIV
20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
The Message Version put this in perspective:
Romans 9:20- MSG
20–33 Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right?
In our culture, we value independence; we like to think that we’re the captain of our ownship- that we are in control of our destiny. In some respects, this is true! I believe we are created to reflect the image of God in our own unique way. However, the Jeremiah verse indicates that sometimes God may have to ‘crush’ our vessel and start over!
I see the third hand in this picture as us, trying to ‘Help’ God in the shaping process!
In 1 Peter 5 is one of my all time favorite life verses:
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper timehe may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Pet 5:6-7
What’s with the ash tray?
Perhaps humbling ourselves ‘under the mighty hand’ is like bringing our ‘lump of clay’ to God and submitting our will to His. Not only ‘what’ he wants to do, but ‘when’. In effect, we say- Here I am- shape me into whatever you like, whenever you will … Could be an ash tray, finger bowl, even a beautiful vase! Better to be a wastebasket in God’s service than a Goblet in the hand of the Enemy!
Ash tray?
Or Incense burner?
We may sometimes feel unimportant, like maybe God was just making us into an ash tray- all the while, He planned on an incense burner!
In Revelation, it speaks of the prayers of the saints rising up with the smoke of incense before the throne of God!
God doesn’t make junk!
Look what Paul says in Ephesians:
10 For we are God’s (workmanship*) masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Eph 2:10 NLT
workmanship (Gk. poiēma) (2:10; Rom. 1:20) Strong’s #4161: The word literally means “a thing made”; it comes into English as poem. The word indicates a handiwork, a masterpiece. God’s church is His “poem,” His masterpiece, His workmanship, just as all creation is (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20). As He is the Author of His handiwork, He should get all the credit (see Ps. 19:1–6). |
“Created us anew”. Our plans before Jesus came in to our lives most often are like that lump of clay that wasn’t turning out how God intended. Our ‘death’ that is symbolized by our baptism, is in essence, God’s way of starting over- a fresh start!
Treasure in Jars of Clay
2 Cor 4:7
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Action Items:
Thanks for reading my blog, I pray you were blessed! See you next week!
