Treasure Containers

Paul the Apostle is always such an inspiring individual to me.  To think today of someone being stoned to death and surviving, let alone to be beaten, imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned and so on, and survive with a positive attitude ...WOW! 
II Corinthians 4:7-15  "7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.


13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”[b] Since we have that same spirit of[c] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God."

The analogy of the clay pot here is perfect for what we go through as Christians who are seeking to grow closer to God.  That lump of clay is softened by kneading it and mashing it and contorting it to get the air pockets out.  All the empty spots are removed and filled in with dense body.  Freshly harvested clay is pushed through screens to remove any small stones or other debris that might be in it.  If they were to shape a clay pot and then cure it in the kiln any debris would heat up and cause cracks or even cause an explosion destroying the pot.  A potter takes that clay and presses and contorts  the vessel until it looks like what he wants or how he pictures that clay to be.  Our heavenly Father puts us through tests and trials, molds us, makes us into what He envisions us to be.  Like a true potter, He never sees the clay for the shapeless lump that it starts out to be.  He sees us for what we will be in our final state, living in Glory with Him and covered in Jesus blood.

Verse 9 says "persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."  He never leaves us just sitting on the table to dry out.  He makes every effort to shape us into acontributing and usable vessel.  What is it that shapes is?  Trials and trouble are part of one of those things.  Blessings are others.  We often look at the trials and tribulations of life as the things that are shaping us but God often changes and molds us with blessings as well.  Do we remember more of the negative experiences we go through or the positive ones?  I am afraid that we often see more of the down side than the up side. Our blessings like children, sunsets, animal shpaes int he clouds, the first blooms of spring, a cool kiss on a warm forehead, a tender look,  a genuine embrace, the gift of laughter, and even the twinkle of an eye are blessings we can see every day if we want to and they make us who we are.

Be flexible.  Be moldable.  Become a vessel.

The Deep Freeze

Have you ever noticed that when you are coming into the heart of the cold of winter. The time when it freezes everything solid, that it freezes the ground so cold and hard that it looks smooth and impenetrable? A freeze so cold and forebearing that you could never imagine that life would again push through it and the hope of spring is forever away. Then you come to a point every winter where the cold seems to surrender to the cries of nature and finally gives in to a small thaw. Just enough of a thaw to make mud. The kind of mud that slips off the frozen depths below it. A thaw that puts you in mind of the coming spring. Lets you know of the coming warmth and the hope of new growth as well as the beauty of blossoms, the greenest greens of the entire year, colors so vibrant they take your breath away!

And then.....it freezes again! But this time, the freeze leaves gaps in the defrosted and refrozen earth. Gaps that hold ice crystals and air. A freeze that traps motion so that when the final defrost in the spring actually happens, nature can pick up right from where it left off. Withour those gaps in the ground, how would the crocus and the daffodils be able to penetrate their frozen beds?

God just amazes me. He does the same thing with our lives. Freezes us and waits for us to wake up before we pick up and go again. Sometimes the spring rains have to change our whole landscape with an avalanche of rain or an ice storm that kills off all the imperfections that were starting to take over our lives. We always assimilate to the potter with the clay but the winter freeze and thaw has the same affect. Think about what is frozen in your life today and where the gaps of air and ice crystals are that He is getting ready to have burst forth with wonder!