OVERFLOWING VESSELS OF CLAY

Potters Kiln, Seagrove, NC
Pouring Blessings, Jamestown, NC
Overflowing Blessings, Greensboro, NC

One of my favorite movie scenes is from the George Burns movie Oh God! A young man is suddenly confronted with God sitting beside him in his car. God has assumed the image of an elderly man so that he won’t appear too overwhelming. He perceives that the young man is holding back a long held question that he is bursting to get out, so he encourages him to ask it. The young man then blurts out that since God is so all powerful and loving, why doesn’t he do something about all the pain and needs of the world? And God simply replies, “I have........I created you”. And as we learn from the book of Genesis, God formed man from the clay of the ground and breathed life into his nostrils.

In Malachi 3:10 God challenges us to “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house and thus put me to the full test; see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour down for you an overflowing blessing”. That blessing of God’s grace poured out for us is the salvation we have received through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus. We have been given the responsibility of being the stewards of everything in this world which belongs to God. As we receive His blessings to help us journey through this life, we’re compelled to follow His Son’s example and pour out a portion of the blessings we’ve received to sustain God’s church and other fellow travelers as well.

We read in Isaiah 64:8 that God is our father, we are the clay; He is our potter, and we are the work of His hand. In the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul states that “we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. Paul likens us human beings as breakable clay vessels that contain the priceless contents of God’s power dwelling in us. There are many accounts of God showing his presence in the Old Testament, but He mostly uses other human beings to dispense his grace to others. This power of Christian giving is returned tenfold, not only in this earthly life but also in the promise of life eternal through the grace of God’s overflowing blessing.