In scripture, God is referred to as the potter, and His disciples (Christians) are the clay. When a potter is molding clay on the pottery wheel, the clay never loses contact with the potter's hands. It can't. If it does, the clay will be misshapen, and it won't become what the potter intended for it to be. The clay is in the potter's hands until it is shaped to his liking and becomes what the potter desires it to be. The potter knows, when he sits to the wheel, if the clay in his hands will be a cup. He knows if the clay in his hands will be a vase. He knows if it will be a bowl. So he keeps the clay in his hands and carefully shapes and molds it to its expected end.
Some clay, depending on temperature and other conditions can be a bit stubborn. It doesn't shape quite like the potter desires, but he doesn't throw it away. He clumps it back into the ball of clay that it was when He began so he can try to shape it again later. He can't use that clay for the purpose He had in mind just yet because it won't "bend" to his hands, but the potter finds that sometimes the clay is a bit more pliable after it sits for a while. It gives and bends to his hands a bit more and finally allows itself to take its intended shape.
Some clay, of course, does exactly what the potter expects it to do on the wheel. It forms as he shapes and it becomes what he intends for it to be. That clay--that bowl, that cup, that vase--is able to be used for its intended purpose sooner than the clay that wouldn't "bend".
Some of us are like the stubborn clay that can't seem to adjust to the "temperature" of life and the other conditions that surround us. They take our attention away from what the potter is doing with us. When the potter puts us on the wheel, we don't allow His hands to shape us. We don't bend. We don't form into what He intends for us to be. We're not disciplined. We're not ready. If the cup He's trying to make, for instance, won't shape properly and ends up with a hole in its bottom and is allowed to dry and harden that way, it won't be any good for drinking. Its whole purpose for being created is ruined. But the potter refuses to waste clay. This is why He would simply ball the clay back up to its original state so he could rework with it later when He thought it was ready.
This is when He grabs the other the clay, those of us who aren't affected by the "temperature" of life and the other conditions that surround us. He grabs the ones who are disciplined. He places us on the wheel and we take shape. We become what He intends, and he releases us to be used for the purpose for which we were shaped.
If we're not disciplined clay...if we don't hear and DO what the Lord says...if we don't allow Him to shape us and bend us as He sees fit, He'll use clay that's READY to be used. It's not that He doesn't want to use us, and it's not that He can't, but we're not ready. Could He use a cup with a hole in it and still see some of its intended purpose come forth? Sure. But a cup's use would be a lot more effective if it was masterfully shaped with full ability to serve the purpose it was created for.
Why don't we settle in our hearts today to take inventory of the areas in our lives where we know we're not disciplined...those areas that we know we haven't given to the Lord...those areas that are holding us back from being used by The Potter for our intended purpose. Why don't we settle in our hearts today that being used by the one who has already determined our design is more important than our comfort. Let's just kick "us" to the side and trust that, even when it's uncomfortable or hard, He knows what He's doing and we should just obey.
He WANTS to use you. He has determined what you are to be as a finished product. Will you let Him shape you?
Tomorrow
The Benefits and Rewards of Discipline
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