After thirty-one years, I still have the
small, lovely vase I bought in Beijing, China in 1984. It is only clay, but the potter shaped it to
be both functional and beautiful. I
treasure it for its beauty and its capacity to bring back memories of that first
trip. It also reminds me of two verses
in the Bible about the Potter and clay:
Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.
We are the clay. You are
the potter;
we are the work of your
hand.
Isaiah 64:8
Then the word of the Lord
came to me:
O house of Israel, can I
not do with you
as the potter does? Declares the Lord.
Like clay in the hand of
the potter,
so are you in my hand.
Jeremiah 18:5&6
The Bible is the Living Word. It had meaning and purpose in Isaiah’s and
Jeremiah’s day, and so it does for us today.
If we will, God will take the clay of our lives and shape it into
vessels to be “filled to the measure of the fullness of God” as we read in the
Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (3:19), filled with the Holy Spirit,
God’s essence, pure love. God wills to
do this, to shape us and fill us with himself for service for him to others,
and ultimately for his glory.
I truly love the metaphor of the Potter and
the clay and the accompanying idea of being shaped into a vessel both
functional and beautiful.
Only recently
has another dimension of the metaphor come to mind.
It is that of the Potter’s wheel.
God can do anything on his own, but as the
Potter he chooses to place the clay of our lives on Potter’s wheels.
In other words, he uses human agency, social
contexts, and circumstances to shape us with competence and character after his
likeness.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0slh9DDhjHH-F1S9JyeKxeaBrghwpPfVZQVJYaQbsUnfamsutFr6nb7ZYfuFUNT_uA0yCsfIurquLKr7o0IfImKRQoZ-91t_6lTpc5OcLIaG8blXzdkUJ3E9Gj3q1GB2ilnZ3XMSNYuE/s1600/Raymond+Family+Christmas+Gathering+2014.jpg) |
The Extended Raymond Family Potter's Wheel |
What are some of the wheels that the Potter
uses to express his loving creativity?
Every afternoon, Irene and I care for our little twenty-one month old
grandson. What a joy! The first Potter’s
wheel is family. Family life shapes the
clay in Jesus name. Families can be contexts of health or
toxic. So may schools, summer camps,
community centers, churches, youth groups, colleges, and universities. Just this past week, Irene and I returned
from Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada) visiting The Salvation Army William and
Catherine Booth University College (Booth College for short) where I spoke at their graduation. Without question, Booth UC is a potter’s
wheel, as are Asbury University, Trinity Western University, and other Christ-centered institutions of higher higher education. Their graduates choose to place
themselves on a Potter’s wheel for four years.
Their opportunity is value-added because it is the Potter’s wheel. His
hands and the college wheel itself is the human agency of faculty, staff, and
leadership that continue to be shaped themselves as clay in the Potter’s hands.
I realize now that, if we are remain all
throughout life in the Potter’s hands, He will continue the creative work
of shaping, filling, and using us for the coming of His Kingdom and for the
glory due His name.
Spirit
of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Spirit
of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
Break
me, melt me, mold me, fill me.
Spirit
of the Living God, fall afresh on me.
(then)
Make
me a blessing, humble and meek,
Lord
may I lift up those who are weak,
And
may the prayer of my heart always be,
Make
me a blessing (x2), I pray.