Treasure in this earthen vessel
(Warning: In this blog entry I discuss my faith, Christianity. Read at your own risk of being offended.)
At church on sunday the sermon was about II Chorintians 4:7.
The idea is that we are all jars of clay (some translations say earthen vessels, which I think sounds kinda cool and, you know, less like a band.) In biblical times clay jars were ordinary, used for lots of things, and when they were worn out they were thrown away without much of a thought.
That is us, as people: fragile, breakable, failable, ordinary. Basically we are mortal, we get old, worn out, and perish. Nevertheless, God chose to put his treasure in us. Specially, in me. Plain, old, ordinary me. Not some being that is eternally beautiful and perfect.
The pastor also talked about how, like jars of clay, we have real imperfections, cracks and asymmatries, or weaknesses and flaws in our character. We shouldn't try to shine our outside and hide our flaws too much. We shouldn't be ashamed that we are real people with real life problems.
I've been thinking about that this week and how one place that part really comes through is here, in my blog! I'm never really ashamed to show my failing too much here. How right now I'm letting Noah run around naked and I don't even know where he is peeing because I'm too lazy to fight him on getting some pjs on, for instance.
No, I don't share every thing I'm ashamed of, but I do feel I let it come through a little bit and not candy-coat my life completely. And I think that's cool that I can be a real person who couldn't possibly do everything perfectly, yet God still wants to put His treasure in me. Wow.
But what is His treasure? I've also been thinking about that part this week. I'm not exactly sure if I understand that part completely, but it's something about "the glory of God." I guess it's that he created us to reflect Him and His awsomeness. That we are his portal to show His character in this world. His love, honor, dignity, greatness, all that. That's a lot to live up to.
But even though it's a high calling, I can still have my own cracks and failing on the outside. I don't have to be this perfect person who always has the house spic-and-span, makes delicious homemade dinners every night, pulls all the weeds. But I just want to try to live in my weedy yard, messy house, getting take-out food as He would have me to, while loving God and others.
I just thought that was pretty cool way of reminding me to not sweat the small stuff.
At church on sunday the sermon was about II Chorintians 4:7.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (NIV)
The idea is that we are all jars of clay (some translations say earthen vessels, which I think sounds kinda cool and, you know, less like a band.) In biblical times clay jars were ordinary, used for lots of things, and when they were worn out they were thrown away without much of a thought.
That is us, as people: fragile, breakable, failable, ordinary. Basically we are mortal, we get old, worn out, and perish. Nevertheless, God chose to put his treasure in us. Specially, in me. Plain, old, ordinary me. Not some being that is eternally beautiful and perfect.
The pastor also talked about how, like jars of clay, we have real imperfections, cracks and asymmatries, or weaknesses and flaws in our character. We shouldn't try to shine our outside and hide our flaws too much. We shouldn't be ashamed that we are real people with real life problems.
I've been thinking about that this week and how one place that part really comes through is here, in my blog! I'm never really ashamed to show my failing too much here. How right now I'm letting Noah run around naked and I don't even know where he is peeing because I'm too lazy to fight him on getting some pjs on, for instance.
No, I don't share every thing I'm ashamed of, but I do feel I let it come through a little bit and not candy-coat my life completely. And I think that's cool that I can be a real person who couldn't possibly do everything perfectly, yet God still wants to put His treasure in me. Wow.
But what is His treasure? I've also been thinking about that part this week. I'm not exactly sure if I understand that part completely, but it's something about "the glory of God." I guess it's that he created us to reflect Him and His awsomeness. That we are his portal to show His character in this world. His love, honor, dignity, greatness, all that. That's a lot to live up to.
But even though it's a high calling, I can still have my own cracks and failing on the outside. I don't have to be this perfect person who always has the house spic-and-span, makes delicious homemade dinners every night, pulls all the weeds. But I just want to try to live in my weedy yard, messy house, getting take-out food as He would have me to, while loving God and others.
I just thought that was pretty cool way of reminding me to not sweat the small stuff.
posted by catankgirl at 8:23 PM
3 Comments:
At 1:15 PM,
Anonymous said…
Well-said Jessica. I think you are pretty awesome especially because you aren't perfect. :)
At 2:50 PM,
catankgirl said…
Thanks Leslie. :-)
You should have heard it the way our pastor described it, much more well-said. And it was funny, he said the modern day equivalent would be tupperware instead of jars of clay. lol There's even treasure in this tupperware.
At 5:07 PM,
Highlandgal said…
I think that's a excellent perspective. Often Christians get a rap for thinking they're perfect, when in truth most Christians are very humble and very aware of their flaws. I think people "expect" Christians to be perfect and it's just not possible. Christians, as well as everyone else, should focus on the loving and humble part of themselves and they might find themselves a little more "right" with the world.
Post a Comment
<< Home