Cracked Vessels Bible
What do you with stuff that breaks? You throw it away because it can't function as well as new or whole items right? This is something that seems pretty common sense in our culture today. My plate breaks and I go buy a new one at Target. However God doesn't work this way. God uses us inspite of our brokeness or I would say because we are broken. I think many Christians believe that once we have faith, our life will be a bed of rose. Unfortunately this is not the case, we all experience the up and downs of life whether we have faith or not. However when we have faith, we are better able to navigate the challenges of our lives because we know we are not alone and that we have a God who walks with us every step of the way. Since we gone through these hard times, and have been beaten up by them but not defeated by them. We become a good resource for other who may be going through the same thing. God put us in other people's lives to help them see the hope that we have in our own broken lives. God uses us cracked vessels and pours God's Grace and Love into us and that changes us. The cracks start to emit light to the world around us, the cracks aren't a sign of our brokeness they are instead an opening to allow the light, love, and hope of God to radiate around us into the world for everyone to see. Is there somebody in your life today, that needs to see the light of Christ? Does somebody you know need some hope in the midst of their despair? If so sit down with them, listen to their story, and then share what God has done in your life, so that the know they are not alone and that there is hope. Leave a Reply. |
It’s beyond tempting to paint a pretty picture to the public.
A flawless masterpiece revealing a life unmarred by pain, free from sin and struggle and oh-so-gloriously, enviously, sickeningly perfect. Kalkulus purcell varberg rigdon bahasa indonesia. {Because I can’t possibly be a light in this dark world if I’m not perpetually waving enthusiastic jazz-hands-for-Jesus with a plastic smile and a hearty “God is fan-diddly-tastic!”, right?}
But God passes by the gold, silver, brass, crystal, and wooden urns, and chooses the vessel of clay. The poem explains why: Then the Master looked down and saw a vessel of clay. Empty and broken. The holy Word tells us clearly that we are vessels. Man is a vessel (Rom. Not many Christians have paid adequate attention to the fact that we are vessels of God. Christians talk about men being God’s creatures or men becoming God’s people. THE VESSEL BROKEN. If men are determined to love evil and falsity, and to live in sin, and to neglect the Divine warnings, and to resist the Divine leadings and teachings, and to prefer evil, rather than goodness; then such men fix and confirm their hearts in evil character; and they reach a condition in which they are no longer plastic to the hand of the Divine Potter; but they have baked. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. Ecclesiastes 11:3. God blesses us cracked pots in spite of our sinful, undeserving nature; and high on His list of blessings is forgiveness. As we look to Him alone, He gives us grace (He imparts a million blessings we don’t deserve) and mercy (He withholds a million judgments we do deserve).
Blech. I just can’t. I mean, it’s tempting –SOOOOOOO tempting– and I’ve SO been guilty of it, but I just can’t stomach it anymore. That version of Churchianity is just grody…and heartbreaking. And not only that, the unbelieving world sees it and rolls its nauseated eyes, solidifying the Ned Flanders caricature of a Christian etched in their minds.
And on top of that, it’s EXHAUSTING to maintain a polished veneer that daily takes a beating from life and sin and pain and weakness and trials.
Destroying the Veneer
So let’s just chip away at that shimmering veneer for a moment. Let’s get real with one another.
I’M a hot mess. YOU’RE a hot mess. WE’RE ALL a big hot mess. *Deep, cleansing breath.* Whew! Now doesn’t that feel better???
Seriously, though, I’ve had to wrestle and struggle through this over and over in my life. I’ve had to fight against the pursuit of perfection. I’ve had to push back against the lie that God can’t use me unless my motives are ALWAYS 100% pure, unless I reach some ethereal level of holiness, or unless I finally get my act together and stop being so stinkin’ scatterbrained.
And then I get stuck. I lose momentum and crawl into a hole of shame and despair, wishing I just didn’t have to struggle with my sin and my weaknesses any longer. Wishing I hadn’t come from such a broken past full of abuse and fear and sin and shame. Wishing I didn’t have so much baggage to sort through.
But just as I was struggling through this season of stuckness, I was reminded of these truths:
We are all broken.
We are all cracked.
We are all weak…
EVEN THOSE OF US WHO SEEM LIKE WE HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER…EVERY LAST ONE OF US…
…YET we, imperfect as we are, are fully entrusted with the treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jars of Clay
How can that be? Why would He choose to use weak, cracked and broken vessels? How does that glorify God?
Paul explains why:
2 Cor.4:6-7 (emphasis mine):
For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
1 Cor. 1:27-31 (emphasis mine):
Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, so that no one may boast in his presence. It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
So there we have it. We are described as:
-clay jarsGod can use our meager offering and cause it to grow into something beautiful.
-foolish
-weak
-insignificant and despised
-viewed as nothing.
But then, why? Why does God choose to use the rubble of the world to be His messengers?
-to shame the wise
-to shame the strong
-to bring to nothing what is viewed as something
–so that no one may boast in His presence.
–so that we would boast ONLY in the LORD (and not ourselves).
–so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
God uses the Broken
Humbling? Yes. But freeing? Absolutely. Because we are free to stop striving for perfection. Do we still walk in repentance and strive for holiness? 100%. But we can rest in the fact that God can use us even when we haven’t yet “arrived”, because none of us will get there until we are glorified in the presence of Christ when we meet Him face to face.
And until then,
we are free to be imperfect because Jesus was perfect in our place.
We are free to be weak because Jesus is our strength.
We are free to be needy and vulnerable because Jesus fulfills all of our needs.
And we are invited to praise God for using us DESPITE our brokenness. Because if He couldn’t use us in spite of our sin and our weaknesses, He couldn’t use any of us! And that’s great news, right?
And because of these truths, we can boast in the LORD alone. And we can move forward, boldly proclaiming the truth of the gospel and letting HIS light shine THROUGH the cracks of these broken vessels, in full confidence that God can use our meager offering and cause it to grow into something beautiful.
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How about you?
Broken Vessels Bible Study
Have you struggled with the feeling that you need to “have it all together” before God can use you? What truths have you embraced that have helped you in this area? How have you struggled? How have you overcome this? How can I pray for you??? I love hearing from my readers! We are in this together, my friend. 🙂
Broken Vessel Bible Study
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