Jars of Clay
Have you ever thought about just how many uses there are for a jar? A jar can be used to store food, liquid or solid. It can be used to transport items from one place to another. Jars can be decorations or drinking cups. They can be vessels for candles or to grow plants in. One of the many ways that ancients used jars was to keep wine while it fermented. Jars also come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. But the one thing every jar has in common is that it was made with intention, whether that intention is fulfilled or not.
I have a confession to make, I’m sometimes jealous of other Christians. I see the ways the Holy Spirit uses them, or their passion for Christ, or the things God asks of them, and I get jealous and petty about it, rather than inspired. I’ll find myself thinking things like “I could do that too, if God would let me!” Or “why doesn’t God work through me that way?”
As it just so happens, there was a song about exactly this at the Christian summer camp I went to growing up. I wish I could remember all of it, or even the title, but here’s how the last verse and chorus went.
“Oftentimes like Peter, I’ve answered God’s commands
But when I stopped to look around, I did not understand
Why He did not use me like some others I could see
And it’s been at times like this that He has said to me
“And He said ‘what is that to you, you follow Me, follow Me
There’s much more to My plans than you can see, you can see
Trust Me as your Master, Shepherd, and My call obey
If you love Me, come and follow Me, follow Me’”
I sing that to myself every time I get jealous of other Christians, because it reminds me to keep my eyes focused on Christ.
Technically, any jar could fill any role. A drinking cup could be used for storage or transportation or for a candle. But it would still be used best as a drinking cup. Likewise, God could use any person for any role. But none of us were created to fill just any old role, like cogs in a machine. Instead, we have each been created intentionally, with purpose in mind. This also means that if someone fails to obey, God will give the call to someone else. This could be as minor as God having someone else pray a certain prayer over a small group, or as massive as Him sending a different person into a mission field. These things feel big or little to humans, but no calling from the Lord is trivial.
Some of you may feel uncertain about God’s intention for your life. You may be wondering how to know when you’re being called to do something. The answer is as simple as it is difficult: you must listen to, and for, the Holy Spirit. Learning what His voice sounds like takes time and there are no shortcuts, but it’s unmistakable when you know it.
You aren’t an accident. God didn’t make you by mistake or without reason. You’re not useless or unimportant. God made you on purpose, intentionally, with a plan for you in mind. You matter to your Creator. You are His jar of clay.
