What’s In Your Jar of Clay?
1) Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. 2) Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3) And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4) The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5) For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6) For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 7) But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 4:1-7 (New International Version)
This is an amazing and humbling piece of scripture. As background, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. In this intensely personal and autobiographical letter, he is writing to affirm his own ministry through Christ, as it is under attack in Corinth from false teachers. These passages are so important to us in our daily walk in this world. Paul exhorts us to remember that we are blessed to be able to spread the word of Christ, and that with this blessing comes the awesome responsibility to be cautious, and not distort the word or message from God just to please the audience or get the response that we want. God is listening to us, and we must remain faithful to the message.
Paul goes on to remind us that the “god of this age” (Satan) is blinding non-believers to the light of Jesus’ love. Satan can use so many things to get between us and God… money, jobs, power, sex, the drive to have more “stuff”, even our own families. Anything that interferes with serving God blinds us to what He is asking of us. We have His light in us, and we must let it shine.
But the most compelling verse for me is verse 7… God has taken all of this wonderful light, this glorious knowledge of who He is and His wondrous works, and put it into mere jars of clay… us.
We are chipped and broken as human beings. We are flawed, far from perfect. Yet God has chosen to place the Light of His Son inside each of us, and we must let that light shine for all to see. God has entrusted in us his message of salvation in Jesus Christ. While our containers are weak and will perish, our contents are valuable beyond silver and gold.
Our responsibility? To let others see God through us.
Leave a Reply