What are we? Well, maybe a more important question is, “What can we become”? From the moment we’re born we’re a bundle of untapped potential. We have so many opportunities. But how much of that potential will we reach?
I guess I was thinking about our lives and how we start out. We are, from the beginning, like a lump of clay. We may be cute as babies, but we have to have everything done for us. Our parents really have their hands full when we’re born. They pretty much have to provide for our every need. Then we gradually become more independent as we learn to do some things for ourselves. I think our parents, even at that point, don’t see us just as we are but what we can become. Sure, they love us, but they love us too much to let us stay there. If they only saw us for what we are they may not be as excited. It’s that, yet unrealized, potential we all have that’s exciting.
I suppose it’s that first day of school where we head off to make our mark in the world (kindergarten and or preschool). This is where we begin our collected works of art that we proudly bring home to our parents. These, no doubt, were proudly displayed somewhere on the refrigerator door. Although, now in retrospect, we wonder how they warranted the relocation of the Dominoes coupon to the kitchen drawer. I guess that means our parents must really love us.
As more time goes by we eventually leave the house and head off to college, where we’re really going to make our mark on the world. But now we’re really on our own this time. So, the pressure is on. As we think about all the opportunities we have and what we can become we could easily get overwhelmed by the choices. We inevitably choose something that, hopefully, fits with our gifts and abilities. I know what you’re thinking, but professional video game tester doesn’t count. Not that you’re not gifted at it, I’m just saying.
I guess the realization I’ve come to is that a lump of clay is just a lump of clay as long as it chooses to stay a lump of clay. That lump of clay has a choice to make, though. It can either choose to become something more and useful, or it can just stay that lump of clay. That lump of clay has a lot of potential. So, what we are going to do with it is the question. We have to choose what we want to become. I’m going to move on now because I’m tired of saying the words, “lump of clay”. There’s more to this story, though.
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Even though we have choices to make on what we become in this world, God ultimately wants to be the potter shaping our lives into what they should become. This is where we really have the opportunity to be what we were meant to be.
I was recently reading in the book of Jeremiah. In chapter 18 God uses the metaphor of the potter and the clay in relation to Israel where He is the potter and Israel is the clay. In Jeremiah 18:1-6 it says, “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 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]. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 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.” Well, this is a good metaphor for us. As we read in these verses, the clay starts out marred in the potter’s hands. Then the potter starts to form and shape it into something good. Not only something that looks good, but something that is good. This is actually a good description of us. We do start out marred. We are marred in sin. The clay ultimately can’t fix itself, though, can it? It needs the potter to take over and mold it into something good—into a useful vessel. So, then as we confess our sins and submit to Him, He remakes us and shapes us into something great.
God knows better than anyone the potential we have. And He is the best one to help us realize our own potential. In Jeremiah 29:11 it says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” God has good plans for us. We can trust Him with these plans and He will slowly reveal them to us. These plans are only realized, though, as we submit to Him and let Him work in our lives. Our molding process is just beginning then. He is continually molding us and forming us into the image of His son for the rest of our lives.
Jeremiah 18:1-6 says, “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. 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]. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 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 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”