I am the Clay

When a potter makes a pot, his work involves more than just forming the clay into a particular shape. I was an art major in college and I took several pottery classes. Before we could begin to shape a lump of clay into something beautiful we first had to remove all the impurities. This involved cutting it in half and slamming it down on a hard, flat slab in front of us. This drove out the air bubbles and specks of dirt, hair and pebbles. It wasn’t an easy, quick job for the potter. I remember doing this over and over and over until my muscles ached.

Every time I sliced that wet lump of clay in half, I’d discover another impurity that had to be driven out. Often I’d pick it out with my fingers, but most often it was another air bubble so it was necessary to slam it down on the slab in front of me, hoping that if I did it hard enough the bubble would be driven out.

If we didn't take the time to remove the air bubbles and all the debris from the clay then after the clay was fashioned into a beautiful work of art and put in the kiln, the heat of the kiln would cause the pot to explode.

If we look at ourselves as the clay and God as the one who is at work to form something beautiful, we have to realize at first he has to do a work in us that often seems brutal. A very necessary work that will remove the impurities and make us fit for the beautiful artwork that he is about to create. A work of art that will withstand pressure, that will endure.

 I recently read a story of a very handsome, successful, arrogant, self-made man who was severely injured in a plane crash.* Everything he had relied on had been stripped from him. This man lost sight in one eye, the use of his legs and was left with an ugly scar on his face. He eventually learned to walk again but was unable to return to the job that had made him such a success. In the midst of his recovery, he transitioned from an angry, bitter man that planned to commit suicide to a man who fully surrendered his life to Jesus, his creator. His new life was filled with joy and purpose. As he grew into a “new creation”, he realized he’d happily go through the horrors of the crash and painful recovery if that’s what it took to transform him from the man he had been to the man God intended for him to be.

Most of us don’t have to go through an experience that dramatic, but all of us, if we truly belong to Christ, will go through a refining of some kind. Not just once, but over and over throughout our lives. For me, often the refining process involves God shining a spotlight on a flaw in me that keeps me from growing into the beautiful work of art He has planned. And because I’m such a cry-baby wimp, God has to gently pry the impurity out of me while I bawl at His feet.

But I don’t want Him to stop doing His refining work. I so desperately need it! How about you?

God chastises His children; those that He loves. He transforms us "from glory to glory" into the very image of Christ.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,  are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

 "Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me, after thy will, while I am waiting, yielded, and still."

*From Evidence of Mercy by Terri Blackstock; Zondervan Publishing