{"id":3566,"date":"2024-04-12T07:49:41","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T11:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3566"},"modified":"2024-04-12T07:51:15","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T11:51:15","slug":"cracked-pots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/12\/cracked-pots\/","title":{"rendered":"Cracked Pots"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>

In the ancient world the most durable containers were carved out of stone.

That\u2019s where royalty would safeguard their treasures.  A rich family might keep an especially prized possession in an alabaster box.

Ordinary families, however, had to resort to clay jars.  And clay jars were a dime a dozen.

In a Jewish home, if a ceremonially unclean animal such as a lizard scrambled across one of your clay pots, you knew what you had to do. That vessel was now ceremonially unclean.  Anyone who touched it would become ceremonially unclean.  Therefore it had to be broken \u2013 never to be used again.  It was unthinkable that a clay jar should ever become the container of anything worth keeping.

That\u2019s the background of one of the apostle Paul\u2019s most startling statements:

\u201cWe have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us\u201d <\/em>(2 Corinthians 4:7).

What\u2019s the treasure?  Paul is describing the Holy Spirit \u2013 God\u2019s indwelling power to transform human lives.

And who or what are the jars of clay?

Well, that would be us. 

God has put his most important Message, his must-not-fail Ministry, and his world-changing Mission \u2013 God\u2019s greatest treasures, in other words \u2013 into the most fragile of containers.

That fact ought to amaze us every time we look in the mirror.

It\u2019s not that we\u2019re staring at a perfect person. 

All of God\u2019s servants \u2013 from the most eloquent high church official, to the grandmother who loves all the children in the neighborhood as if they were her own, to the teenager who wonders if she can make it through another day \u2013 are breakable. 

We should never be surprised when those who try to love and serve the Lord suddenly spring leaks.  And become discouraged.  And let down their guard.  And sometimes come to the end of the day feeling as if they\u2019ve been run over by a truck.

Why would God risk putting his best stuff into such unreliable containers?

Paul puts it out there:  God deposits his treasure into the fragile vessels of our hearts and minds so we\u2019ll never be tempted to believe that this is all about us \u2013 that we ourselves are somehow amazing.<\/em>

God is amazing. 

And every day, if you\u2019re one of God\u2019s adopted children, you have some choices to make:

Am I going forward in my own strength, or in the strength that God provides? 
Am I going to worry today, or am I going to pray? 
Are my attempts to love and serve others all about my power, or about the power that God uniquely provides?

Scripture goes out of its way to remind us that we\u2019re all, in the end, just cracked pots.

But take heart.

The cracks, after all, are what allows the Light to shine through.

And you just happen to be one of God\u2019s<\/u><\/em> cracked pots.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here In the ancient world the most durable containers were carved out of stone. That\u2019s where royalty would safeguard their treasures.  A rich family might keep an especially prized possession in an alabaster box. Ordinary families, however, had to resort to clay jars.  And clay jars were a dime a dozen. In… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[714],"class_list":["post-3566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brokenness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3566"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3569,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3566\/revisions\/3569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}