The Potter and His Clay - A Spiritual Analogy
Our hearts are hard like stone. We lie by the way with millions of other stones. When we have the re-birth experience that is when we are born again of the Holy Spirit we are gradually broken into dust and form clay.
It is only at this stage that our Heavenly Father can begin to mould us into His Image until finally we are perfect as He is perfect - which is the end of our spiritual journey.
This journey entails two things:
- Allowing God to break you - which entail the giving up of our will. A surrender of our lives to God. He knows our hearts, as the psalmist says in Ps 139:1-2, he has searched our hearts; he knows when we sit and when we stand. If we allow God to come into every area of our life, our careers, our relationships, and our every desire and submit ourselves to His will, then He will take all that is not of Him and break that.
- Allowing God to mould you - which entails accepting God's will. Once we have been broken, God can start molding us in to the vessel that we were intended to be according to His plan.
Lots of people try the first step, though not completely. The problem is the reluctance to surrender completely. Unless there is complete surrender, God cannot get us into the shape He intended. We end up fighting with God in certain areas of our lives. We even may fool ourselves into thinking that we have surrendered fully- when we are actually holding back " I've give so much already", we may think. 'So much' is never enough. Only when we are complete nothingness - dust - can we be made into clay ready to be molded.
Others surrender their lives and wonder why they have hardship. "But I chose you oh Lord - I'm doing the right thing" they grumble. When we surrender to Christ, we automatically take on His hardship and suffering. People let themselves be broken and then wonder why they experience pain during the molding process. Pruning is hard for a plant. Very often pruned plants lose sap, leaves and sometimes even what it may think to be it's brightest flowers. But at the end of the pruning process, our Heavenly gardener who looks at the wide picture always is correct. Though the journey is a hard one, it is a very rewarding one.
Once I had a vision of a really narrow road. It was a rough road filled with stones and difficult to walk on. But there were roses at both sides of the road, making the whole road a visual treat. It also gave out a most beautiful inviting aroma.
Jesus, in Mt 7:13 as well as in Luke 13:22, talks about entering through a narrow lane. The apostles who were with Him during His lifetime knew all about the Spiritual blessings that they received in their walk with the Lord. Thus it was very necessary for Jesus to prepare them for the hardships as well.
Today many people seem to be in a reverse position. They know about spiritual hardships. "Why should I go to Potta, if they tell me to stop drinking and smoking and the ways of this world?"" people ask me. "My life is good, I'm not addicted to these things, and I don't want to unnecessarily take on any hardships." Another thing people ask me often with regard to my own journey is why I chose the path I'm on. "But you're so young!" they exclaim as if implying that I should wait till a ripe old age (which no one knows I'll reach) to even think of spirituality. They ask me why I waste my life doing spiritual things when I could enjoy the many pleasures that this world has to offer.
Opportunities like these give me the chance to evangelize, to try to explain what blessings (Oh! Showers of blessings) there are in the way, the walk of Jesus.
I absolutely want for nothing. How many people, even the richest of the rich can truthfully say that? The Holy Spirit showers us with His fruits of love, joy, peace. each fruit a novel in itself to explore and enjoy. These fruit no man can give, no worldly thing can give and truly nothing can take it away either. Only Jesus can set us really free. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed (Jn 8:36)!
The Father, our provider supplies every need to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus (cf Phil 4:19) I remember Mervyn, the spiritual leader I had, explaining this. Imagine there is a person to be dropped to the railway station. If he had to ask one of the poorer youth to help him get there all he would get would be direction. A youth owning a motorbike would perhaps take him on the bike. An affluent elder would take him in his air-conditioned car. A person can supply you your need to the extent of his personal riches. Imagine then, what our Almighty God, the Creator of everything in the Universe, could give us!
We should repent when we follow our own will and the Spirit of the Living God to fall afresh on us, to break and melt us, to mold and make us into new creations in Christ Jesus.
