But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us. (2 Corinthians 4:7)
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. (2 Timothy 2:20)
Years ago, Tina and I took the Kids to Niagara Falls after an Aldersgate Conference. While there, we spent a day at Fort Niagara, a historical military fort dating to the 1600’s, as I recall. We listened to the tour intently, but one thing grabbed my attention and stuck in my memory…
The soldiers used the same wooded buckets for toilet purposes as they did for drinking water. The average age of death for those soldiers was under forty—not from war, but rather from dysentery and other similar infections.
In our age, we know well not to mix soiled and bacteria-laden items with what we ingest and digest. We are so much smarter in terms of spreading diseases physically…
I wonder, however, in our current culture, if we are even more ignorant concerning spiritual contamination, degradation, and infection than they were concerning the physical…!
I have often joked that as earthen vessels—clay pots—we are all crackpots and crockpots… It is always important to remember that the real value in our lives is not in ourselves as containers—it is the treasure of God’s presence and power contained within us—by His grace.
But Jesus purchased you and me, clay though we be, at the highest price. The Lord offers us ongoing cleanses of the highest and purest form—love-washings to purify and seal even the most crocked and cracked among us…
The container’s condition matters. The Treasure transforms the pot—if we will let Him!
So how does that happen? How do we get progressively cleaner, more holy, and purer? How does the Lord wash away the contaminates and poisons so that we as containers become progressively more like the Treasure within us?
Come Sunday and find out!
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