Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Based Upon Jeremiah 18:3-4

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The Lord has a way with words. He always manages to make Himself unmistakably clear. His use of images and stories far surpasses any blockbuster movie, and we are certainly benefited more by them. He said, “Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” (Jeremiah 18:3-4).

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God spoke to Jeremiah one day about His willingness to do whatever it takes to save His people. He told Jeremiah to go to a potter’s house to observe, and there he would receive His words. Jeremiah did as he was told. He noticed that the pot of clay that the potter was working on had imperfections. The potter, being the master worker that he was, could not be satisfied with the result, so he made it again. The potter was so patient that it did not matter that he had already spent time on the first pot. He needed to do whatever it took to perfect his work.

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So it is with God. Hopefully, all of God’s children are having the experience of the imperfect pot. We were created by God, yet because of the imperfections caused by sin, we too are marred. The Lord exercises His loving prerogatives to remake us. He loves us so much that as we cooperate with Him, we are renewed into the form He intended from the beginning.

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I am sure you have heard it said that the Lord accepts us just as we are. In many cases, the person saying this realizes, to a certain degree, that they are imperfect. It may be that they have cherished sins, which they have not been victorious over. When they encounter the holy standard of God’s law, whether it be through a person or in personal devotion, they make provision for their errors by suggesting that God’s loving acceptance of people, is license for us to continue traveling the path of sin. After all, the Lord is still working with us. While it is true that the Lord accepts us as we are, He never leaves us the way He found us. As we experience the Lord more and more, His purpose becomes clear. Whatever is necessary for Him to do in order to make us into the vessels He intended from the beginning, as the master potter did, He must remake us. Can we, if we are the clay, look at the potter and say, “Why have you made me this way?” Oftentimes, the process we must go through to be reformed and perfected is painful, however, we must trust the Lord through the process. Notice what the Lord said to Jeremiah: “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:6).

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It is indeed a blessing, that while the Lord accepts us as we are, He is not willing to accept the fact that as we are, we cannot live with Him eternally. It is our privilege to be remade, reformed, and reconstructed in order to be fit for the kingdom of heaven. The great thing about all of this is that the Lord is interested only in our good, so whatever process He employs, will be used to benefit us in love. –L. David Harris (www.davidwritesalot.com)