“We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7 MSG)
Yesterday’s devotional truth is still resonating in my soul. Our lives are merely a collection of containers for God’s glory and He’ll fill whatever we avail to Him. I set out into my Sunday with this truth in my pocket, the holy weight of it burning a bit in my soul.
On Sundays at Brenham, we begin with prayer. The leadership team gathers in the last half an hour before service. Someone gives spiritual direction and then we join together in voice and heart before the Father. It’s less like pressing in and more like stepping into a strong current already flowing. Yesterday was no exception.
We prayed and I pictured the sanctuary filled with clay pots; earthenware lined up like soldiers from the front of the room to the back. I wondered, at first, if this was from God or just a bit of my imagination. I asked the Lord for clarification and He gave me a second image; a brown sanctuary chair covered in clay pots. All manner of jars covered the chair and spilled over on to the floor. Each pot was upright, hungry mouths turned toward heaven. The scene widened and I saw each chair in the sanctuary with a smattering of pots over and around it. The entire room was filled with chairs and pots; representing the souls of the folks who call Cornerstone home.
Every person who set foot in our church yesterday came in with need in multiple areas of their lives. God hopes that we’ll bring those needs to Him; that we’ll set our pots down in His presence and ask Him to overflow each one. Surrender is the essential for infilling, and the threshold that I tripped over for many years on my way to the Spirit-filled life. We’ve got to arrive at a place where we are willing to acknowledge our need of Him. We speak it out in plain English and He responds by filling us up with mystery; with power and love that the world will take note of.
This morning, with my waking mind still full of this image, my regular reading uncovered this additional verse:
“And the people of Zion, once prized, far surpassing their weight in gold, are now treated like cheap pottery, like everyday pots and bowls mass-produced by a potter.” (Lamentations 4:2 MSG)
Jeremiah is speaking about the people left behind in Jerusalem after the Babylonian invasion. The nation had forgotten who they were as God’s people and as a result, lost their way. They had allowed themselves to become ordinary, abused and inconsequential.
This scripture reminds me that though we are clay pots, we are far from ordinary. We have each been handcrafted by the Father. It is His mark engraved on our frames that makes us priceless; more than gold. We tend to forget this unless we routinely bring our ordinary lives under the flow of His Spirit, who reminds us of our purpose and worth. Even a clay pot in the hands of the King is an extraordinary thing.
Lord, we are so humbled that You would fill us with Your breath. We realize this is how we can to live; Your breath blowing into mud – making living, breathing, precious people. Breath on us again. Fill our ordinary lives with Your powerful, purposeful Spirit. We bring all our jars to You. We surrender to Your Kingdom agenda. Amen.