A Broken Vessel

A Broken Vessel

We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

2 Corinthians 4:7

As Christians, we have a tendency to be perfectionists in how we live, work, parent, and generally “do” life. We want to be the perfect family, have the ideal marriage, achieve much, and have our kids please us, which sometimes brings on undue pressure. One husband said his wife was so busy trying to turn him into the father and husband of the year, she rarely gave him a chance to be himself.

The truth is, there are no perfect families or people. No perfect husbands, wives, mothers, or fathers. The only perfect parent is God, and look at the trouble he had with his first kids, Adam and Eve! God is working on each of us to cause us to want his will and to do what pleases him, but as long as we are on this earth, we’ll be under construction, works in progress, not finished. For God has put his treasure in “fragile clay jars,” and thus we are prone to break or crack. Why would God do this? So the world around us will see that the power we live by is not ours but God’s. The Lord doesn’t need perfect vessels to do his work anyway. If he waited for his people to be perfect, who would he have to carry on his work in the world?

Throughout history God has worked and lived through very imperfect vessels: Peter, impetuous and disloyal in Christ’s final hours; Jonah, who ran from God’s call; Elijah, who got so discouraged that he wanted to die; and David, who said in Psalm 31:12, “I am ignored . . . as if I were a broken pot,” and certainly made his share of mistakes. Are there flaws or cracks in your life? That is the very place God’s grace and forgiveness can shine through to the world as God brings healing and restoration. He offers the mercy of a fresh start when we turn from our sinful and hurtful ways to live our lives his way. Can the world see the light of Christ shining through our brokenness? —CHERI

Lord, my God, here are the pieces of my broken life. Search my heart and show me the sin I need to confess and turn away from. Bring beauty out of my brokenness, for I give myself to you.

To be spiritually useful to God we must periodically travel the wasteland of brokenness. In this desert God tenderly picks up our shattered pieces and remolds them into the image of his Son. . . . No matter how broken we feel, God won’t allow the pain to destroy us. —JUDITH COUCHMAN, AMERICAN WRITER, SPEAKER, AND EDITOR