Treasure in Clay Jars

We Worship God
A Guide for Worship Leaders:
Praise Builds Up


2 Corinthians 4:1-12 (The Message)

Trial and Torture

 ^1-2Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don't maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don't twist God's Word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God. ^3-4If our Message is obscure to anyone, it's not because we're holding back in any way. No, it's because these other people are looking or going the wrong way and refuse to give it serious attention. All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get.
 ^5-6Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful.
 ^7-12If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!

For Reflection
What a wonderful turn of phrase, "unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives."  Some times we are so star struck by the big events, the renown preacher, the massive mission that we dismiss the power of an ordinary life.  Many of us go through our lives embracing the joys of living and skimming the tops of rough waters taking it all in stride.  I admire that.  Some would call it "laid back, nothing bothers him or her, not a care in the world."  For a Christian, it is more a quiet confidence that God will take what ever happens in our lives and make it good.  Even trial, torture, mockery and murder was made good in the resurrection.  This week take a closer look at your ordinary life.  Try to see it as God does.  How is your ordinary life accomplishing the extraordinary?

Pray
that what we say and do in our ordinary lives will accomplish extraordinary ends.  Pray that we will offer our ordinary lives to the service of the Lord.  Pray for steadfast confidence in the promise of the Kingdom of God.  Pray that others will respond to our ordinary lives lived in the extraordinary grace of Christ, Jesus and that they will be transformed by the grace of God which flows through us.