Are You A Cracked Pot?
Good Morning Friends,
The Bible uses many illustrations and flawed characters like Sampson, David and Gideon to explain the deep truths of how God’s grace relates to our lives as Christians. Jesus explains to his disciples that God’s kingdom is like a mustard seed. Paul encourages the Christians to put on the whole armor of God as he compares the Christian life to that of a soldier. At other times Paul uses the image of a wrestler when he advised Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, and the writer of Hebrews likens the Christian life to a runner when he exhorts his readers to run with perseverance the race that is life These are all decent images that imply value and virtue. Then in chapter four of his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses an image that is surprising. The Christian life, he writes is like a mundane, clay pot. The word that Paul uses could also be translated, cracked pot…not exactly something of value at first look. But here we can learn a lot about ourselves and our flawed lives as Christian by viewing our lives from the perspective of what is inside our clay pot and how God uses us anyway. You see God redeems the clay pots that we are and the struggles associated with them that we wish would go away to demonstrate divine love and grace and to draw us into a relationship. It is in the ordinary and the everyday that God’s greatest revelations are manifested in the symbols of scripture. Are You A Cracked Pot?
Scripture: 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. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—”I believed, and so I spoke” —we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:7-15 (NRSV)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Matthew 5:27-32 (NRSV)
After he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars, he said to them, “Look at me, and do the same; when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets around the whole camp, and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon!'” So Gideon and the hundred who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. So the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars, holding in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow; and they cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Every man stood in his place all around the camp, and all the men in camp ran; they cried out and fled. When they blew the three hundred trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.
Judges 7:16-22 (NRSV)
Message: The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks inside at the heart and what must be broken to reveal what is inside. That is why Jesus emphasized the Law’s purpose was not to make us perfect so we could get to heaven by good works, of being perfect pots, but to show how our hearts and our hands are unclean and that God loves us anyway. Today’s text from Matthew is primarily directed to the Scribes and Pharisees who refused this understanding, choosing power instead of grace. They likely did not understand the virgin birth, and thought to discredit Jesus as being soft on sexual sin because he associated with sinners, including prostitutes. They undoubtedly wanted to leave the impression that Jesus was conceived out of wedlock to discredit him. The Scribes and Pharisees thought they had all the advantages on this issue for they had not committed adultery. But then Jesus pressed his point, and looks these scholars in the eye and declares them guilty of committing adultery in their heart. He is tough on sin for even the most religious are guilty before God when it comes to the sins of the heart. Friends, sin is universal. That is why Jesus calls us to have a holy heart. That is why we need to believe differently. If we do not, we diminish God’s importance in our lives and aggrandize our own self-importance. Every day God is molding us, so whether you consider yourself a cracked pot or a reformed vessel, or both, know that you can carry the message, the light, and the living water where ever you go. God’s glorious message is to be carried and delivered from such jars of clay as you and me. And sometimes it comes with a little shock and awe.
Pray we teach with consistency, confidence and clarity. Pray we have love in our hearts. Pray we realize that no prison is as endless as the prison of perfection. Pray that though we are perplexed and cracked that we are still useful to God. Pray we realize that spiritual fruit requires sacrifice but that our afflictions can be converted into glory. Pray we realize that Christ gifts us with a finished work having fulfilled the law for us. Pray God triumph in our lives. Pray we see more deeply into life realizing that we are not necessarily advanced by the external progress of civilization if our hearts have not embraced Jesus’ Kingdom of love. Pray we realize that sin destroys but that the greatest of sin is that of the heart not our hands or even our eyes. Pray we have a romance not of the flesh so much as with divine destiny. Pray our pain turns to gain for God’s glory. Pray we be both molded and broken by God. Pray we realize that God uses cracked pots.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 