God Uses Cracked Pots

I remember some years ago, Patsy Clairmont came out with a book called "God Uses Cracked Pots," which apparently was full of funny quips about God and life (I don't know, I've never read it). I always liked the title of that book, because in a metaphorical sense, it's definitely true. When my fiance and I went on our first date, we went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit here in town, which was VERY cool. That day was my 2nd time seeing the exhibit...the first time was a couple weeks before that and the place was PACKED. I remember at some point I was kinda wandering around, avoiding the crowds that seemed to be everywhere and I came to this display case that had a huge clay pot in it, it was probably about 3 feet tall and had thin hairline crack along the front...it was a pretty cool-looking pot...and I noticed I was the only person that seemed to be even remotely interested in it. Next to the display was a small sign that gave a little information on the artifact, and the part that really struck me was the last one, which said something like, "Vessels such as this one that were damaged were discarded by the people of Qumran as useless." Wow. It got me to thinking: isn't that a lot like life? I mean, we are all vessels in one shape or form...and no matter how hard we try, we're flawed and cracked. The beauty of it, though, is that through Jesus' sacrifice, God re-shapes us into a vessel that is pleasing to Him...to the common eye, we as cracked pots are useless...but to God, we are beautiful works of art!

A couple weeks ago in Sunday School, we were continuing our talk about Jeremiah, and we went over Jeremiah 18:1-6, "This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : 'Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message.' So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the LORD came to me: '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. ' "

To me, this is the beauty of God's love: that despite our flaws, screw-ups, and hang-ups, God is willing to re-form us into a beautiful creation that is ready to do His work. A lot of times people get saved and remain so woe-is-me about the past and whatnot...but when we accept Christ, we're made new...and that old junk is gone and forgotten by God...so we should forget it too! The Bible as well as history is full of people who came from marred lives to become tremendous vessels for the Lord: some great examples are Paul, who persecuted Christians then went on to write a huge chunk of the Bible; and Nicky Cruz, who was a gang leader and drug addict in New York City, and went on to become a great minister and evangelist (you can read/see his story in "The Cross and the Switchblade"). So yes, God uses cracked pots, and he always will...cracked pots from every race, gender, background...He loves them all, and all can be used for His glory!