Jars of Clay

[Disclaimers--First, No, this post is not about "Jars of Clay" the band. Although their music is quite epic and I strongly suggest you listen to it :). Second, it was inspired by my LifeChange: 2 Tim. Bible study and the final quote is from my Life Application Bible :)]

“In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble puposes and some ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes. Made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.” ~ 2 Timothy 2: 20-21

We are jars of clay. Sinful and imperfect vessels. Yet the King of the Universe desires to use us for His purposes. Isn’t it awesome to think that Jesus can use our lives—and use them for something truly unbelievable, beyond ourselves?!

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As overjoyed as we should be to allow God to use us for his purposes, sometimes we nurture attitudes that stymie the work of God's grace in us. For example:

-Trying to be justified by the law (Galations 5:4). Aka self-righteousness….thinking ourselves or something other than God's saving grace can make us right in God’s sight.
-Timidity (Hebrews 4:6). Doubting God can work through us.
-Pride (1 Peter 5:5). Trying to do things our own way, instead of surrendering to His Spirit.

Yes, these attitudes seem self-centered, but also painfully familiar. I can make myself right. I don't think God can work through me. I can fix this better than God can.

But doesn't it seem like the only appropriate response to God’s working in us is the opposite of self-centerdness--humility? Shouldn’t the knowledge of His work in us bring us to our knees and make us say, “Do whatever you want in me and through me, Lord”? Yet, unfortunately, sometimes God-centeredness is oh-so-much harder than it sounds.  

Now, sometimes (or shall we say often?) I struggle with pride (see my post, A Color-Coded Life). And as much as I prefer to call it independence, or efficiency, or something to that effect, that's really quite inaccurately euphemistic. I try to do things on my own, convincing myself that my planning or organization or color-codedness will fix all my problems. Yet somehow that never really works for me. It's when I come to the end of myself and realize I do a sloppy job of making myself right and I surrender to Jesus that things really start changing. In fact, when I surrender things to Him, they start becoming really and truly beautiful and working out in ways beyond what I could have imagined. How awesome to think that when I surrender to Him, He can use me, this cracked and flawed jar of clay, for glorious purposes, too.

"We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:7

As one of my all-time favorite verses (Ps. 18:35) says, "You stoop down to make me great!" How awesome is that?! The focus is not on the perishable container, but on its priceless contents.