The Potter’s Hands
August 15th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
When a potter works with clay, it takes time to shape it into it’s finished product. Sometimes as the clay begins to form, it develops defects or blemishes. At this point the potter has options; he can leave the defects, fix them, or start over. The potter rarely decides to throw the clay away because it is still has value and the potential to be shaped into a meaningful purpose. Like the potter, God works to shape us and mold us. This doesn’t mean that we become meaningless puppets, but it does mean that we submit to the will and direction of God in our lives.
There are several places in the Bible where the analogy of a potter and clay are used to represent our relationship with God. In Jeremiah 18:6 it says, “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” In this passage, God is comparing Israel to clay in the hands of a potter. It also shows God’s desire and ability to mold us into His purpose. As we submit to His will and become receptive to His impact on our lives, He begins to shape us into the valuable vessel we were meant to become. No matter what happens, as long as we remain in the Potter’s hands, He will never discard us from a relationship with Him and will continue to shape us and reshape us for His purpose.
Silly Rules
February 14th, 2010 § 1 Comment
Why do we constantly create rules we want God to follow. Just because we need rules to exist in a society, we feel we need to create rules on behalf of God. This is not something new to the human existence. In Genesis 3, Eve created a rule that God never made. When she told the serpent that God said ‘…You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die’, she created a rule that God never made (God only said that they could not eat it). We do this all the time when we create barriers that God never made.
God never told us to be perfect. He never said that we needed to follow the rules in order to receive salvation. He spent time with the lowlifes of this world and all he asked was that they follow him. He never said stop being a tax collector; Matthew 9:9, ‘he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.’ How many times in my conservative upbringing did I hear that dancing and drinking will lead to a life that is not approved by God?
Sin is something that is defined by God as disobedience to Him, not disobedience to the rules that can lead to sin. We need to have personal responsibility for our actions. We need to realize that if our drinking leads to drunkenness, then we need to stay away from drinking. This does not mean that we make the entire world stay away from drinking alcohol. The same goes for just about every rule we have ever created for our Christian lives.
God wants a relationship with us… PERIOD! Relationship does not equal a summation of acts that lead to a relationship. Relationship is the action. I am beginning to see the enormous number of rules that God never said we needed to create. Salvation is a free gift that we are to receive from God through Jesus’ sacrifice of His life on the cross. I don’t work for it and I don’t act or jump through hoops for it. I simply accept it and live a life that includes a personal relationship with Him, which allows me to reap the benefits of living with Him.
