OF POTS AND MEN

"The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words.  Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make." - Jeremiah 18:1-4

I need to tell you from the start of this that I have no personal experience in pottery. I've never taken a class nor have I ever even touched a hunk of clay with the intention of making something useful out of it. In fact, when I look at a lump of clay, I often wonder who the first person was who saw some clay and thought, "I can make something useful out of that."

Having confessed my lack of practical experience in pottery, what I can tell you is I have done quite a bit of research on the subject with the goal of comparing the art of pottery with what I understand about God's method of perfecting His saints. What I have learned is you don't have to be a pottery expert to see The Potter's method in the madness of life's unexpected twists and turns. All one needs is a willingness to submit to the Holy Spirit of God and allow Him to guide us to all truth. The 'truth' in this case is an understanding of God's methods behind life's madness.

After a great deal of study and research, I have discovered six steps to making a clay pot that are pretty much universal in the world of pottery:

Step One: Preparing the Clay

Step Two: Forming The Clay

Step Three: Firing the Clay

Step Four: Glazing the Clay

Step Five: Decorating the Clay

Step Six: Finishing the Clay

Within these six steps is a wealth of information. In fact, I have been amazed at the level of detail involved in the art of pottery. From the different types of clays to the intricate artistry of glazing and firing, there seems to be no end to the creative methods of creating a work of ceramic art out of a plain old boring lump of clay.

But, I'm not going to bore you with the details of all of that.  What I do want to show you is how perfectly these six steps fit into God's methods for creating vessels of honor out of each of His followers.  In keeping with the theme, I humbly submit the following six steps of The Potter's Process:

Step One: Killing The Flesh

Step Two: Yielding and Submitting

Step Three: Passing The Tests

Step Four: Finding Our Function

Step Five: Walking In Our Calling

Step Six: Fine Tuning

Obviously elaboration is needed on all of this, and if you stay tuned to the blog, you'll get it. But for now, consider the cliched response that we've all heard and probably even said to others during times of trouble:

"There's a reason for everything."

What if that reason was actually identifiable?  What if there was an actual plan of action behind the madness that seems to envelop all of us from time to time?  What if there really WAS a reason for everything and you could actually know what that reason was?

That is what this pottery concept is designed to help us identify. How great would it be if we could get the full picture of God's desires, plans, and intentions for us so that we can consistently and habitually walk in the calling He has called us to?  The beautiful thing is God has given us the blueprints for His method and those blueprints can be found all over the scriptures from Genesis to the maps.  All it takes to discern God's perfecting methods is spending some time with Him and His Word.

So, I'll make you a deal. If you'll give me a little more time to develop these thoughts, I'll show you everything God has taught me and is still teaching me about this subject.

Sound good?

Great. Then let's start peeling these layers back and see if God doesn't show us some very cool truths that will hopefully bring us to a new level of growth and relationship with Him.

Stay tuned, there is definitely more to come...