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“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:6
One day the prophet Jeremiah was told by God to visit the house of the local potter. As Jeremiah watched, the potter worked gently shaping a piece of clay. In the process of forming the pot, the potter noticed a flaw in the clay. “This will never do,” he said. With that he began to reform the pot until the flaw was gone and a perfectly useful pot was formed. God said to Jeremiah, “just as the potter shaped this vessel for use, so I can shape my people to be used in the best way possible.”
Just as the potter was able to take the piece of clay in his hands and mold it into something useful, something perfectly able to accomplish the task it needed to accomplish, God shapes us daily so that we are better able to accomplish all that He has desired for us. Like a skilled artist God is molding you and shaping you into the person He wants you to be.
As God the Father is shaping you it’s important to remember some things about how He works. Just as the potter is very deliberate in his work, so our Heavenly Father is passionate about what He is doing in your life. His actions are never arbitrary or random. No movement of His hands is without reason. As a Sovereign God He makes every moment of our lives an opportunity to grow stronger and more effective.
As the potter shapes the clay, he pays attention to detail. No flaw goes unnoticed. He knows that even the smallest of flaws can make a vessel worthless. He knows the limitations of the clay but also knows the possibilities. Our Father is never willing to allow us to be useless vessels due to the flaws in our lives. Rather, he works each flaw out so that we can be strong and useful vessels for Him.
The potter also works patiently. He knows that a strong pot is formed slowly. Only under the direst of circumstances is he harsh and forceful with the clay. When that happens it happens for a reason and for a short time so that the clay can be reformed into something special. Sometimes God has to bring harsh things into our lives to work out the flaws and make us stronger. He does so in love and for our benefit.
Lastly, the potter is proud of his work. He has worked long and hard to make each vessel useful, strong and beautiful. Our Father does the same for us. Some stores sell products that are imperfect, or rejects. You can buy them at a discounted price because they are flawed. God doesn’t send us into the world as rejects or irregulars. We are His prized possessions. With His gentle hands He molds us, shapes us and works out the flaw so that we can be used for Him.
PRAYER: Father thank you for caring enough about me that you will not allow me to be a flawed vessel. I praise you for the fact that you will mold me and shape me to be the best I can possibly be. Help me to be empowered by you to be used in real and mighty ways. I pray this for your name’s sake. Amen.
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. Jeremiah 31:3
Nothing is harder than to love someone who is either unable to, or refuses to return your love. Extending love is personal. It’s intimate. It makes you vulnerable. You put yourself on the line and if you are accepted and that love is returned you feel fulfilled, happy, complete.
But when love is not returned, it’s like doing open heart surgery with a dull knife and no anesthesia. You lay your heart before the one you want to love you and if that person rejects your love he/she is rejecting you. You become like a warrior who loses his sword and shield just as the enemy attacks. There is no warning. There is no defense. There is no hope.
It’s that one aspect that makes God’s love for us so amazing. When we are rejected in our attempts at love our human nature is to withdraw ourselves. Depending on the situation, our withdrawal could be permanent. We evaluate the situation and decide that this love really wasn’t love at all and move on to find a new love.
On the other hand, if we are so dependent on that person that we MUST love them we may do anything to keep that love. Even if staying in that relationship means abuse, unhappiness or danger (even to the point of death). Our very being, our essence depends on our having this relationship. We stay in the ‘relationship’ but lose who we are in the process.
God’s love, on the other hand, says this: “I love you. I will always love you. No matter how many times you pull away from me. No matter how often you scream at me in anger and abuse my name and ignore my advances, I love you.”
He draws me to Himself. During those times of my anger He sits quietly, patiently. Knowing me so well that He knows exactly the time to come to me, when I can no longer do life alone.
One reason our Father is able to love this way is because our rejection of Him has no bearing on who He is; on His power to heal; or on His willingness and passionate desire to draw near to us. He is God. He is our Loving Heavenly Father and He pleads with you to come and rest in His arms and call Him ‘Daddy’. Passionate desire! How awesome is that! He’s not a shy lover waiting in the shadows for you to notice Him. He’s a passionate lover who pursues you, who makes every opportunity to show you His love.
With such a God as this what shall keep me from living life to the fullest? I am loved! Unconditionally, completely, eternally loved in spite of my stubborn will and my constant struggle to follow His ways.
With such love as this within me, how can I learn to love others in the same way that I am loved? How will the love of Jesus shine forth in new and passionate ways to those who have been shattered by forsaken love?
PRAYER: My Lord and my God. I am once again taken back in awe by Your great love for me. I ask once more that you would forgive me for ignoring your love. I’m stubborn and selfish and seek only my own pleasure when I should seek to give you glory. Help me to let your love shine through me so that I can be secure in whom I am and show Christ’s love in passionate ways to those in my world. Amen.
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33
It isn’t good for us to be alone. Even at creation God saw that all was good except for the fact that man was alone. He needed a companion that he could share the good and the bad with. So God created woman to stand at his side as his equal partner in life.
Today the one thing each of us still craves is relationship. We want to belong to something, to someone. We seek a cause that we can believe in and pursue because it makes us feel important. Our self worth gives us identity. It could be through a church, a relationship, a job anything that makes us feel worthy.
Jesus tells us we are to be the salt of the earth. For salt to be useful it must be in contact with the item to be salted. It intermingles, adds flavor and preserves. But salt is always salt. It doesn’t take on the quality of the item salted but enhances the positive aspects of the item salted.
Jesus also warns that salt can lose its ‘saltiness’ and become useless. It breaks down and loses its identity. Rather than maintaining its saltiness it takes on the attributes of the substance surrounding it. The salt no longer enhances the flavor or preserves as it once did.
As Christ-followers we need to be careful when we are in the world. It is too easy to get drawn into the negative attitudes about other people or those who are different than us. In an effort to reach out to those struggling with sin it seems right to downplay the sin in an effort to win the sinner.
Paul tells us in Galatians 6:1 that when we catch someone in sin we are to restore them gently, but the second part of that verse is a warning. We ourselves are in danger of sinning when we put ourselves in situations where temptations to judge, have a critical spirit or allowing pride to overtake us.
When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church he warned them that constant affiliation with those who were negative, judgmental or lax in their spiritual drive could pull us down. Are we to avoid such people? NO! We need to temper the negative with a strong drive to draw close to Jesus through our personal Bible Study and Prayer and by building a wall of positive influence around us made up of small group and corporate worship and prayer.
When we allow negative thoughts and negative attitudes to influence the way we act or think it robs us of our self esteem, our self identity and the dreams we have. Jesus’ ways are built on love and compassion not on critical spirits and verbal and emotional attacks. As a Christ-follower we are called to built up not tear down, to encourage not berate, to seek the positive in every situation and not dwell on the negative.
PRAYER: Dear Jesus. I get so frustrated by seeing the way in which people abuse each other and seem to take advantage of your love and Forgiveness. To make matters worse I have found my own attitude has become negative and angry with people I disagree with. As a result I am guilty of the very thing that I detest. Forgive me for my judgmental attitude, my critical spirit and my hatred. Empower me with your Spirit to love unconditionally and forgive freely. Help to continue to build a close relationship with you and other believers so that I can live in the freedom you have given me and accomplish all you have in store for my life. Amen.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9
Bad habits. It only takes a few days to learn them and sometimes a lifetime to break them. They hound us day and night. They lurk in the shadows waiting for a moment of weakness on our part so they can pounce on us and cause us to fall…once again.
Sometimes the habits are relatively harmless, like chewing your fingernails or leaving the toilet seat up! Sometimes those habits are life crippling addictions that destroy our reputation, steal our character or obliterate our relationships with people we love dearly.
In order to learn to cope with bad habits we label them and categorize them according to our opinion of their severity. Pornography, anger and drug addiction are bad habits. They hurt people, even kill people. Gossip? Worry? Sarcastic, hurtful comments? Now those aren’t so bad. In fact those can even be funny (we think). In reality, in God’s eyes, they are all the same. They are all sin.
The Apostle Paul was struggling with something. We don’t know what it was. Some think it was a physical ailment, an eye problem left over from the Damascus road perhaps. Others think it could have been something else, a spiritual issue. The Bible doesn’t tell us what it was for good reason.
The problem in Paul’s life wasn’t the issue. The issue was how he handled it. God doesn’t want us to know what Paul’s struggle was. He wants us to realize that all of us struggle. Not only do we all struggle, but the struggle we have isn’t as important as what we do with it!
Every day we need to remind ourselves that failure is inevitable in the human life. God knew that when He first created us. That’s what Grace is all about. Grace reminds us that even though we are weak, in God’s eyes we can be strong. Through Grace God can use our weaknesses for His Glory. Every day He uses ordinary, sinful people for great and mighty things.
You may be ready to give up. You may be tired of falling, getting back up and falling again. You may be thinking “I’ll never be able to conquer this”. That’s good! Once we realize we can’t fight the battle on our own God has us right where He wants us. When we feel our weakest He is ready to jump in and use that weakness as strength.
Once we accept the fact that we are weak the power of Jesus Christ will be able to work through us to tackle life’s struggles and to show others the way to Jesus. Let God’s grace turn your weaknesses into powerful weapons for good!
PRAYER; Heavenly Father, I confess to you that I’m often discouraged by my inability to live the way I want to. Like the Apostle Paul I find myself doing the things I don’t want to do and not doing the things I want to do! I hereby confess my weaknesses to you and ask that You use those weaknesses for Your glory. Work through me to rely on you daily. Amen.
