My first sermon was on Jeremiah 18 and the Potter's house as God shows the prophet his power to form the clay of his creation into a useful pot. You can imagine the potter taking a lump of clay and with constant spinning of the wheel, begins to form it into a vessel he has planned in his mind. With both hands in the lump, his nimble fingers feel the clay to find foreign material which would make the pot useless. If it remained it would cause cracking in the pot during the firing process. God removes imperfections from us in the formation process to have a useful vessel.
A potter would not make something to leave on the shelf but something which is useful. If it was his business and his reputation, the quality of the pot would speak of his abilities. If he tried to pass a pot which had imperfections as quality, his reputation would suffer. God's reputation is on the line in each and every one of us and he is continually working with both hands, one inside and the other on the outside, to form us into a vessel of his workmanship. He continually reforms us into the image of his Son by the quiet teaching of the Holy Spirit as well as people on the outside. The continual pressure of these two things are God's loving way to take a lump of clay and form it into a priceless vessel.
But what about the broken pieces? Years ago in a restaurant they were laying a tile floor. The boxes of tiles arrived and the workers immediately began to break them into hundreds of pieces in a wheel barrow. I was perplexed until I saw them lay the tile as a mosaic and with the sandy grout made in the restaurant a slip-free flooring. God also takes the broken pieces of our lives and forms them into a useful product if we will let him. Nothing to waste! The broken pieces and the perfected pot both speak of his powerful plan as the Master Potter.
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