How to Fix a Clay Jarfeatured

This week I was feeling discouraged about a painting.  Everything I was trying to do felt like an uphill struggle with little progress made. But in the midst of it, I still knew that God had a purpose and a plan for the painting.  So I kept working.  Sure enough, an image began to emerge on the canvas – unplanned and unexpected.  The image was that of a jar, a piece of pottery.  A familiar Bible verse popped into my head, “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 sensed that the Holy Spirit was showing me what I was to write about this week!

Clay jars or pots are pretty fragile things.  They get chipped and cracked easily.  If you drop one, you can expect it to shatter into many pieces.  We are just like those jars.  When we bump up against life’s rough times, we chip and sometimes crack.  When we experience circumstances where the bottom drops out and we are in deeper and darker places than we ever imagined, we feel broken and shattered and don’t know how to pick up the pieces.

In the verse above, Paul tells us that we have a treasure within “…the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6).  In other words, we have Christ in us through His Holy Spirit.  Only through His power and strength can we clay jars begin to show His light to the world around us.   Paul also reminds us, that we have to remain humbly aware that any strength and power that we have comes from above.  This clay jar gets plenty of reminders of how little I can accomplish on my own power (especially when it comes to painting)!

It is through the Holy Spirit that we have the strength and power to patch those chipped places, mend the cracks and put the pieces back in place.  Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “… that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being…”.  The Holy Spirit can also fill our jar with His fruit: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Holy Spirit is always available to mend and fill me, but so often, I try to do my own jar repair and use my own will power to be kind, good, faithful, etc.

It is only when we invite the Spirit to fill our jar of clay that we begin to mend, and the light of our Savior begins to make us glow with His love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Our rough edges may still be slightly visible, and a few cracks might still be there; but I think that’s part of the beauty of our clay jars.  Those around us can see that we are authentic and haven’t had charmed lives by being Christian.  Hopefully what they see is that Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can take any broken jar and make it glow with His light.  Paul says it best in Philippians 2:15-16, “Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” Lastly, Paul has a promise for us in Ephesians 3:20.  He tells us that God, “… is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us…”  Let’s shine this week – through His power!  [jetpack_subscription_form]