Tuesday, October 14, 2008

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Jars of Clay

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7).

I don't know about you but I have never been thrilled with the prospect of being ordinary.  For most of my life, I have wanted to be something special.  Above and beyond the rest.  Someone that people notice.  At times that has happened too, but it never lasted and it never turned out to be as good as I thought.  I often said that my greatest fear was being ordinary.  I have come to see that anything less than ordinary means that there is little or no room for God.  Then it is all about me.  We have a treasure to be sure, but it is in a very ordinary clay pot to show that the all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  And, in the end, would I really want it to be any other way.  I already have myself.  It is more of God that I really want.

When we have only our own resources to draw on, they will quickly run out.  We are not deep.  We are shallow.  We cannot sustain ourselves.  We cannot pull this thing off on our own, no matter how good we might think we are.  Without the power of God in his life, could Paul have gone on to say,

"We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8)?

No, all of those difficult experiences, would have been the end.  And, for whatever it is that we are to face, we need Him to make it.  His treasure in my ordinary clay pot.

And that is exactly what Jesus loves to do.  Like the wedding in Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11).  Jesus wants ordinary pots filled with ordinary water.  But when it is poured out for others, they taste not ordinary water, but the best wine they have ever tasted.  How did that happen?  It is because Jesus came and poured himself out to pour himself into every ordinary jar of clay that is you and me to fill us with his new wine.  When I try to fill my jar with myself, it doesn't get very full and it doesn't taste very good and it doesn't encourage anyone to come back for more.  When I am filled with Jesus, others can't stay away.

How does this transformation of my water into his wine happen?  I don't know.  It is a miracle.  How can my ordinary clay pot of a life be a container for the all-surpassing power of God?  I don't know that either.  But the moment that I bring it to him, he is more than willing to fill me with himself.  Maybe John the Baptist said it best when he testified,

"A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. . . . That joy is mine, and it is now complete.  He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:27, 29-30).

John understood that his place was to point to Jesus.  That is our place too.  It is not to draw attention to ourselves or to our programs or to what we can accomplish.  That may make us feel good but it does nothing for the people who notice and it does nothing for God.  It only means that he must tear things down before he can do what he came to do.  We need to lift him up. 

You and I are ordinary jars of clay.  But we are filled with a treasure that is beyond our wildest imaginings!  Our water has been turned into his new wine.  Why would we settle for anything less than everything he is?  We do have a treasure.  It is not in a treasure box.  It is in this ordinary life.  God would not have it be any other way.  He poured himself into an ordinary human being the first time in Jesus and he has been doing it the same way ever since.  His treasure in my jar of clay.  His all-surpassing power in my ordinary life.  I can only say, "Thank you, Father.  More, Lord!"  Now, that's something extraordinary!