I spoke on Clay Pots tonight for the end of year Men’s Support Group event in Melbourne. Here are some key insights I shared.
We are all just clay pots. Human flesh is made of the same ingredients found in the soil, plus lots of water. So that makes us ‘mud’. We are fashioned into clay pots, ordinary and utilitarian.
Many of us wish our clay pot was somewhat better than it is: taller, better looking, stronger, more skilful, smarter, or more impressive in some way.
The best way to improve our clay pot is not to work over the shape and size of the pot, but to place treasure into it. If ordinary clay pots were for sale and one of them had a treasure inside it you would want to find that one to buy, rather than an empty one. The treasure gives the pot far greater value than it has on its own.
Similarly we as ordinary humans can have divine treasure inside us and that makes us incredibly more valuable than we were before.
What is the divine treasure the Bible speaks about? It is described by the apostle Paul….
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” 2Corinthians 4:6,7
The treasure is God’s “light” shining on the inside of us. Light speaks of such things as revelation, insight, truth, illumination, removal of darkness, exposure of hidden things and cleansing.
We get to carry the light of God on the inside of us, illuminating and transforming us. That is an incredible treasure making us totally different to all those who have never been born again and who thus do not carry God’s light within.
That treasure is SO wonderful it makes our ordinariness, our clay pot status, quite irrelevant.
While some people struggle to improve their clay pot with personal development, education, social upgrades and so on, they can never upgrade their clay pot to anything of the value of the treasure God is waiting to place inside them. Giving your clay pot (your natural life) a makeover is a totally insignificant process compared to inviting God’s ‘treasure’ into your life.
So let’s take a look at the “light” that God shines into us. In 2Corinthians 4:6 Paul compares the light which God shines in our hearts with the light that shone into the darkness at Creation. At Creation the light shone where there was only darkness.
It is the same with us. When we receive God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ God’s light shines inside us where there has only been darkness. And just as the original creation of light completely dispelled the darkness and triumphed over it so God’s light in us dispels darkness within us and triumphs over it.
It doesn’t matter how dark things are inside our clay pot, with fears, torments, guilt, shame, addictions, evil, pride, suicidal thoughts, or whatever, God’s light shines into that very darkness and dispels it. God’s light is not created by us or worked up by some process within us, but it shines into our darkness, despite our darkness and dispels our darkness. “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts.”
That makes each of our clay pots special, including those that are fat, bald, skinny, disabled, very ordinary, shy, weak, illiterate, crushed by life’s challenges and such like. We are all special when there is a deposit of God’s treasure within us.
We are each a light to the world and we are told to let our light shine.
Talking of clay pots with light inside links to a time when 300 soldiers followed Gideon into battle against a huge army of Midianites. At night each soldier took his place on the ridges around the enemy camp carrying a clay pot with a flaming torch inside. At Gideon’s signal the clay pots were smashed and the lights blazed brightly, leading to a decisive victory over the enemy.
That historic example reminds us that light inside the clay pot shines brightest once the pot is broken. I see examples of that among the men of the Men’s Support Group in Melbourne. Men who have been broken by life’s challenges, with health and family taken from them, or having to struggle through tough situations, often show the sweetest compassion, patience, care and self-sacrifice in order to help others. Their light shines much brighter than other Christians who are distracted by their comfortable lives keeping themselves happy.
If you have not received God’s light into your life then pray to God and tell Him that you believe Jesus is God’s Son who died for us and ask God to forgive you of your sins through the blood of Jesus. Then ask God to shine His light into your life and lead you into a life as His child, filled with all the fullness of God. God bless you as you do.
For more insight about us being clay pots go to my first article on Clay Pots by clicking here.
http://chrisfieldblog.com/2014/12/12/claypots1