As I watered my flowers yesterday, I noticed one of my clay pots was damaged. It had some chips on the side and a crack at the bottom. However, the flower within was growing and beautiful. It was the most beautiful pot of flowers on the deck! I was reminded of how we are molded by the Master, and the process of life that sometimes dings us, and chips away at us, but because of what is within we can still be beautiful and serve our purpose.
Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”
II Corinthians 4:7-9 talks about how we are earthen vessels, just ordinary clay pots, but in this vessel is the redeemer of humanity. He is the treasure that dwells within. He is to be the object of all our trust and to receive all the glory, so that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. The pots I have on my deck have nothing to do with the flowers within. They are simply the holder of the flower. Any beauty we have is a reflection of what is within this earthen vessel, not the clay vessel holding it.
II Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
We go through life and get dinged up on every side. There are pressures that seem so great that we sometimes feel we will be crushed. But we are not distressed or crushed because of the treasure within. Everyday life brings many things that will baffle or puzzle us. We won’t understand what is happening or why, but we should not despair. As we face impossible issues and difficult decisions, we need to remember the treasure within will protect us from hopelessness. In this treasure within, is all the wisdom and knowledge needed to maneuver through life.
Colossians 2:3 “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
II Corinthians 4:8 “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;”
We may be persecuted for our faith. Because of the one who lives within us, we will be different. We will be misunderstood. We may be forsaken by family, friends, and associates, who do not have their clay pots full of the treasure. People will lie about us and accuse us of many things. This is happening to many Christians around the world as I write. Their physical life is in danger, but because of the treasure within, they will not be destroyed. Jesus will never abandon them. What suffering they endure will only magnify the treasure within. In Hebrews 13:5 we are told he will never leave us or forsake us.
Life sometimes comes to us like a military tank ready to crush our souls, but do not fear, when all the dust clears our soul is still intact. It is anchored to the flower within, not the clay without. There is no attack that can overcome the Lord Jesus Christ. We may feel at times we don’t know what to do or where to turn. Remember to trust the one within. A simple verse to remember is I John 4:4, it reminds us that “greater is He that is within me than he that is within the world.”
II Corinthians 4:9 “Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;”
If the cracking or marring of your vessel is because of sin in your life, add the fertilizer of the word and the water of repentance, and you can be remolded by the Potter. Remember, the potter will put me back on the wheel and make me over. Yes, there will be scars where pressure has come against me, and there will be evidence where cracks have been, but because of what is within me, Jesus Christ, I can still be a very useful vessel.
Jerimiah 18:4 “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”
This morning I noticed the flowers in my cracked pot have grown so much that they are overhanging the pot. Because of their beauty, I can’t even see the crack in the pot!
