Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

The laminate tiles on our kitchen floor are full of dents and gouges from dropped knives and pans. I repair the damage with porcelain paint or colored wood filler. 

Steel knives and kitchen scissors survive falling to the floor. But ceramic plates explode and send shards jetting all over the kitchen. 

Which reminds me of 2 Corinthians 4, where Paul says:
  God . . . has shone in our hearts
      to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. 
  But we have this treasure in jars of clay” (vv. 6-7). 

Our bodies, these fragile jars of clay, made from the dust the earth, are so easily damaged. They age and fall on the floor and shatter. I don’t store my valuable stuff in flimsy clay containers. I keep it under my mattress. 

So why does God store his valuables in breakable jars?  

Paul explains ,
  We have this treasure in jars of clay
      to show that the power
          is from God
          and not from us (2 Cor 4:7). 

I think this means God wants to preserve his reputation as the strong one, and my reputation as the weak ones.  So he puts his strong message of salvation in these breakable, disposable jars.  

Paul continues his description:
    We are hard pressed on every side
          but not crushed; 
      perplexed,
          but not in despair;
      persecuted,
          but not abandoned;
      struck down, 
           but not destroyed (2 Cor 4:8-9). 

Struck down, but not destroyed? Like the bowl that took a dive off the counter and bounced instead of breaking to smithereens. But it was a close call. 

Perplexed, but not in despair? Yes. What am I to make of life and cancer and climate change and war and church and politics? It’s all rather perplexing, as we hold it together in these jars of clay. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, you made Adam from dust and loaned him your breath. 

We sons and daughters of Adam are jars of clay, brittle and cracked. But you shine the light of your gospel in us.

O Father, we feel the weakness of these jars. We are hard pressed on every side, perplexed, struck down. May the light of your gospel shine through the cracks. May the grace of Christ escape into the world. May the plainness of the jar reveal the glory of the gospel. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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