Vessels of Clay

The mortal vessel is fashioned from the clay of the earth. It is fashioned from clay but made in His glorious image by His redeeming hands.

As this vessel becomes exposed to the sinful world, it immediately begins to crack under the weight and pressure of sin and temptation, hurt and loss, disappointment and discouragement.

And then along comes the Savior who sacrifices His blood to fill the cracked veins in our mortal soul-vessels. But He doesn't make the cracks obsolete. Instead, He begins to cleanse these areas from the inside out. He brings us face to face with the broken, weak places of our lives.

And when faced with these broken places, we are faced with our need for His grace and mercy and love. And then, when we invite Him in (He who longs for us so deeply), He fills these jars of clay with His Spirit.

And His light (because He Himself is the source of all light) seeps through our ugly, dark, grime-filled cracks. And as we gradually release more and more of our brokenness to Him, more of His light filters through these cracks as they become purified, clean, sanctified. And sometimes this purification process is painful. But it's always good.

And then this vessel, though still mortal and imperfect, becomes more and more like Him and His Son. And He begins to move inside of it, filling it up and pouring it out. And just when the vessel seems as though it's given all it has, He fills it again and again, using it to fill up other vessels.

And by this, by using a cracked, fragile jar of clay as a vessel of His mighty works, the world can know that the source of strength and all good things is Him, and Him alone.


For by our weaknesses, God's strength is made perfect. {II Corinthians 12:9}