Why Christmas?

"The real beauty of Christmas...

...is to understand the ugliness that it cures."  -John MacArthur

The Wasted Life...

“It was not always plain to me that pursuing God’s glory would be virtually the same as pursuing my joy. Now I see that millions of people waste their lives because they think these paths are two and not one. There is a warning. The path of God-exalting joy will cost you your life. Jesus said, ‘Whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.’ In other words, it is better to lose your life than to waste it. If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full. This is not…about how to avoid a wounded life, but how to avoid a wasted life. Some of you will die in the service of Christ. That will not be a tragedy. Treasuring life above Christ is a tragedy.

God created us to live with a single passion: to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.

Most people slip by in life without a passion for God, spending their lives on trivial diversions, living for comfort and pleasure, and perhaps trying to avoid sin. [I] warn you not to get caught up in a life that counts for nothing. [I] challenge you to live and die boasting in the cross of Christ and making the glory of God your singular passion. If you believe that to live is Christ and to die is gain…learn to live for Christ, and don’t waste your life!”

~John Piper

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

let all mortal flesh keep silence

and with fear and trembling stand

ponder nothing earthly minded

for with blessing in His hand

Christ our God to earth descendeth

our full homage to demand

_______________Scripture_____________

"When you understand what you have in your hand and when you treasure this more than gold and when you consider it sweeter than honey, when you delight in it, you will then begin to read its truth. And that's where all effective Bible study begins. Blessed are those, says the psalmist, who keep the testimony of God and seek Him with their whole heart. And how shall a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word. David said, "With my whole heart I sought Thee. O let me not wander from Thy commandments." And so it goes. We begin with a commitment to know the Word of God.

I can suggest to you a simple plan that you might follow. In the study Bible I have a Bible reading plan that will get you through the Bible in a year, and many of you do that already. But let me suggest to you something that I've used through the years that's been of real help to me. It's a way to begin to absorb scriptural data at the maximum kind of level that will help you come to grips with what the Bible actually says, which is where you have to start. There's no shortcut to this but there is a way that you can get after it.

Read through the Old Testament at whatever pace you feel comfortable with. Just read through it. Take a chunk of chapters on a daily basis and just read them and when you're done go back and read them again, and just read through the Old Testament in its sort of chronological order.

But when it comes to the New Testament which really gives us the unfolding of the mysteries hidden from those in the past which unfolds the full meaning of the Old Testament, the New Covenant document, you need to read it more repetitiously. And what I have suggested and what worked in my own life early on as I began to come to grips with the need to know the Scripture was to read repetitiously. And here's a little formula that I followed and found very beneficial. I first discovered it in an old book on how to study the Bible by James M. Grey who was a past president of The Moody Bible Institute many, many years ago. Kind of refining off of that process, here's what worked for me.

Take a book of the Bible and read it repetitiously for 30 days. And here's how I did it. I took the book of 1 John, 1 John has five chapters and I read 1 John every day for 30 days, just simply read it in the same version 30 times in a row. In fact I became so enthralled by it that I actually broke the pattern on the first book and read it ninety days in a row. But at the end of 30 days I knew what was in 1 John just because of the repetitious reading. In fact, I began to visualize my Bible and if anybody asked me to this day what it says in 1 John 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 I'm pretty familiar with that because of repetition. That's how your mind retains things. In fact if somebody says, "Where in the Bible does it say,`If we confess our sins He is faithful and just,'" that's easy, 1 John chapter 1 left hand page, right hand column halfway down. You know, you begin to visualize your Bible because of the familiarity of the text as you go over it and over it and over it.

Now at the same time I wrote a one-sentence summary of each chapter and just over the period of 30 days memorized what that chapter was about so that I was locking into my mind an understanding of the chapters and familiarity with the text itself. Well at the end of 90 days I had a fair understanding of what was in 1 John. I didn't yet fully understand all of it. I hadn't gone into the depth of studying it all, but I was familiar with it. And it elevated an awful lot of questions in my mind.

Then wanting to stay within the framework of John, I went to the gospel of John. Now the gospel of John has 21 chapters and that's too much to swallow in one month, so I divided it into three sections of seven. Using seven is about the maximum number of chapters you want to work with. I read through the first seven chapters of John's gospel for 30 days, a second chapter, a second seven for 30, and a third for seven for 30, so in 90 days I had gone through the gospel of John and in the process wrote out a simple little summary of each chapter, each of the 21 chapters. Well, at the end of those 90 days of reading seven, seven and seven, I understood what was in John. And to this day I can still visualize that and that's been many, many years ago, probably nearly 30 years ago and I remember that the wedding at Cana was in John 2 and that the woman at the well in Samaria is in John 4, and that Jesus encountering His brothers and their lack of faith in John 7, and the feeding of the 5,000 in John 6, and John 10 is the shepherd chapter, and John 15 is the vine chapter, and the highly priestly prayer is in 17 and so it goes and so it goes. Jesus in the garden is in 18. Just pure familiarity.

I also began to realize that some of the things I didn't understand in the epistle of John were explained in the gospel of John. And that the best interpreter of Scripture is Scripture itself. And I learned that very early and that's why when I teach you the Word of God, I explain the Scripture with the Scripture, don't I? Because that's the way I learned the Scripture.

And then after that I went back to Philippians and took Philippians which is a brief book of four chapters, read it 30 days in a row and was familiar with what was there. Then I went back to the gospel of Matthew and took 28 chapters, broke them into four sections of seven...seven for 30, seven for 30, seven for 30 and in four months I had a grasp on the book of Matthew. Now at that pace at about seven chapters at a time going from a shorter book to a longer one, in two and a half years you will have done the New Testament. Now you're going to read the Bible for the next two and a half years, I hope. How about reading it so that you produce familiarity? And that calls for repetition. That calls for repetition. And in that process in two and a half years you will have learned that there are parts of the Bible that connect very obviously and you will cease to be a total concordance cripple. You know what I mean. You can't remember where anything is, and so you go chasing through that inadequate concordance in the back of your Bible that never has the verse you're looking for because you will have absorbed that.

Now you can't do that with the whole of the Old Testament. Much of that narrative flow you just read as narrative and its intent and its full rich meaning gets explained so wonderfully in the New Testament. But you need to be familiar with the New. Get yourself on that kind of a reading plan and you will be amazed and astounded to find out what a Bible scholar you'll become in that two and a half years as you begin to connect the Scripture with itself...

I found that that exercise of reading the Bible in that fashion in just a period of two and a half years or so gave me a tremendous familiarity with the content of Scripture. And that became the foundation upon which to build an understanding of that content. And many of the questions that I had early on in my Christian experience were answered not by reading commentaries or studying theology books, but just by absorbing the very text of Scripture itself.

I'll tell you something else. I continue to read Scripture all the time and as I continue to read it all the time I continue to be amazed at what is disclosed in it. There is a basic understanding of Scripture that the Bible defines as the milk of the Word, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. There are not certain milk doctrines and certain meat doctrines. In other words, certain lighter things and heavier things. Milk and meat does not describe different truths, it describes the depth of truth. There is a milk level of understanding and then there is a meat level of understanding. And you go from the milk down to the real steak as you plunge into Scripture and begin to see the profound depth that is there. But you start with an understanding of the Scripture itself. And then from there you begin to ask yourself, "Okay, I know what it says, what does it mean by what it says? Let's go from the milk to the meat."

~John MacArthur  (from "What It Takes To Study God's Word")

It Will Be Worth It All...

THE PARABLE (pages 9-13 of "Shattered Dreams" by Larry Crabb)

Deuteronomy 8:14-16

"the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage...Who

LED 
thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; Who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end"

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

Romans 12:1

"Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight,

let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight... 

If Your presence does not go with [me] do not lead [me] up from here."

Exodus 33:13,15

Two Perspectives On Life

(“So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic…and they took him and threw him into the pit…and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.)

 

Then Joseph said to his brothers…

’Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God’

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!’

But Joseph said to them…

‘am I in God's place?

As for you, you meant

evil

against me, but God meant it for

good

in order to bring about this present result’”

Gen 37:23-24,28; 45:4,8; 50:15,19-20

"Be Still And Know That I Am God"

"The Lord is good to those who wait for Him,

to the person who seeks Him.

It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord.

It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.

Let him sit alone and be silent..."

Psalm 46:10, Lamentations 3:25-28

Ten Bravehearted Videos

Link:  Bravehearted Thots

"old fashioned, heroic thoughts, given without wax, and without the sheen of modern correctness"

I Hear Your Cry

"Dear child of mine, I hear your cry

 I know that oft you'd rather die

Than face the scalpel's steely touch

That reaches to your inner dust

I've planned dear child what you shall be

Thus leave the choices up to Me

I will not probe an inch too far

Or carelessly your beauty mar

Ah, child of Mine, please understand

My boundless love your path has planned

Your Potter's hand is never rough

He knows the time to say 'enough'"

- Jennifer Daniel

(from "Just a Whisper")

Hard Is Your Lot

"Hard is your lot, envy whispers each day
    Roses are strewn on the other's sweet way
Why should you struggle when they do succeed
    Why should they prosper when you are in need


Bitterness grows as it spreads its dark roots
    All of the aspects of life feels its shoots
Anger and discontent comes in their wake
    Your life is dismal, no more can you take


Soon faith is struggling within envy's grasp
    Hope has absconded - evaded your clasp
Bitterness creeps in with soft stealthy tread
    Joy lies prostrated - she seems to be dead

Envy Is Whispering Words In My Ear

Envy is whispering words in my ear
I should not listen but I like to hear
Drawing attention when others succeed
Their easy life is compared to my need 

Bitterness follows quite fast in her wake
Pointing to contrasts - not what is at stake
Godly contentment, she kicks to the side
While discontentment doth over her ride
 

'Envy', I spurn you, you murmur in vain
For 'in the Lord' rests my lot, joy or pain
Others? What matters if they seem more blessed

God only asks me to pass my own test

  

~ Jennifer Rene Daniel 

"So Peter seeing him said to Jesus,
'Lord, and what about this man?'
Jesus said to him,
'If I want him to...what is that to you? You follow Me!'"

John 21:21-22

"If anyone wishes to come after Me,
he must deny himself,
and take up his cross
and follow Me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.
For what does it profit a man to gain the WHOLE world,
and forfeit his soul?"

Mark 8:34-36 

"He said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb,

And naked I shall return there.

The Lord gave

and the Lord has taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.'"

Job 1:21  

"O what a happy soul am I!
   Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world
   Contented I will be;

How many blessings I enjoy
   That other people don't!
To weep and sigh because I'm blind,
   I cannot, and I won't."

~Fanny J. Crosby

You'll Meet An Old Lady

“Someday down the road you will meet an old lady.  Maybe 10, 30, or 50 years from now. She’s waiting for you - but you will catch up to her.  What kind of old lady are you going to meet?

 She may be a seasoned, soft, and gracious lady.

One who has grown old gracefully, surrounded by a host of family and friends - family and friends who feel blessed just knowing her because of her merciful, giving, and loving spirit.  Others are drawn to her kindness, gentleness, and diligence.

She may be a bitter, disillusioned, cynical old lady, without a good word for anyone or anything - soured, friendless, alone.

The kind of old lady you will meet depends entirely upon you.

She will be exactly what you make her into, nothing more…nothing less.  You will have no one but God to credit or yourself to blame.  Every day you are becoming a little more like her.  You are getting to look more like her, think more like her, and talk more like her.  You’re becoming her.  If you live only to please self, the old lady gets smaller, drier, harder, and crabbier.  If you live your life as a servant, - to please the Lord - doing God’s will and bidding, the old lady grows softer, kinder, greater, and more pleasant.

These little things, seemingly so unimportant now - attitudes, goals, ambitions, desires - are adding up inside, where you cannot see them - crystallizing in your heart and mind.  And scarier yet - these things don’t always show up immediately.  But they will, sooner than you think.  Some day they will harden into that old lady.

The time to take care of that old lady is right now…today.  Examine your heart’s motives, attitudes, and goals: compare them to the Proverbs thirty-one lady’s.  Change your heart no while it is still pliable.  The day when hardness sets in comes quickly and quietly.  When hardness does set in, it is worse than paralysis.  It would be wise to take an “inventory” of your heart.  When clean and right with God, your heart will make you into a beautiful old lady.  If left unkempt and far from the Father’s voice, your heart will make you into a dried up old lady.  The choice is yours.”

- Author Unknown

 "If our satisfaction in Christ is so deep and strong,

that when other things fall away,

we still hold to Him,

then He is shown to be magnificent,

more valuable

than all those things we just lost."

~ John Piper, "Don't Waste Your Life"

 "Whoever LOSES

loses (ἀπόλλυμι) = to destroy; to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to ruin; render useless

his LIFE

life (ψυχή) = that in which there is life; a living being; a living soul; the soul; the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions

for My sake will find it."

Matthew 16:25

The Response. The Result.

"Hardened clay is brittle and easily damaged. If dropped, it can fracture into a thousand pieces...

Dropped wax, it only bends from the pressure of the fall. Impressionable and pliable, it can quickly be remolded.

People are like that. People who are hardened in their resolve against God are brittle, their emotions are easily damaged.

But those who bend to the will of God find perfect expression in however God molds them.

The same sun that hardens the clay,

melts the wax.

There is no change or variation in the sun itself. It's just the way the clay or wax responds.

Trials and sufferings will harden some just like breakable clay, baking in resentment and bitterness. The same circumstances can melt others, teaching them endurance. The trials have no value or intrinsic meaning in themselves. It's the way we respond to those trials that makes all the difference."

~Joni E. Tada

"Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings"

Psalm 61:4 

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28

"How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings"

Matthew 23:37 

  

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty...He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark."

Psalm 91:1,4  

"a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness."

Psalm 84:10 

 "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'" 

Psalm 16:2

"Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings"

Psalm 17:8

"Whom have I...but You?"

Psalm 73:25 

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat

FALLS

into the earth and

DIES

 

it remains

ALONE

but if it

DIES 

 

it bears

 much

FRUIT

 

 

He who LOVES his life

LOSES it,

and he who HATES his life in this world

will KEEP it to life eternal."

John 12:24-15

An Idol =

any person, possession, or position that I expect to do for me what only God can do.

"Are there any among the

IDOLS

of the nations who give rain?

Or can the heavens grant showers?

Is it not

YOU,

O Lord our God?

Therefore we hope in You,

For You are the one who has done all these things."

Jeremiah 14:22

"There are two kinds of people:
those who say to God,
'Thy will be done,'
and those to whom God says,
'All right, then, have it your way.'"

~C.S. Lewis

How We Become "__________"

"A choice made often enough becomes a habit.
And a habit reaps a personality
and a personality reaps a character
and a character reaps a destiny...

a man becomes what he is, a woman becomes what she is by a series of processes of thinking, choices he makes. Some people say, well how did that person ever get to be like...Made a choice and another choice to do the same thing again and it became a habit and it became a personality and it became a character and it's a determined destiny...'As a man (what?) thinketh in his heart, (what?) so is he.' Prov. 23:7"

~John MacArthur

(from sermon "Off With The Old, On With The New")

"My life is but a weaving betwixt my God and me;

I do not choose the colors He worketh steadily.

Oft times He weaveth sorrow, and I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly

Will God unfold the pattern and explain the reason why.

For the dark threads are as needful in the Weaver's skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned."

~Grant Colfax Tullar

Following Him Wherever He Goes

“The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God. …If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure that there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death.

“someone said to Him, ‘I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’" (Luke 9:57-58) These words destroy the argument of serving Jesus Christ because it is a pleasant thing to do. And the strictness of the rejection that He demands of me allows for nothing to remain in my life but my Lord, myself, and a sense of desperate hope. He says that I must let everyone else come or go, and that I must be guided solely by my relationship to Him.”

~Oswald Chambers

Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fulness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

by Katharina von Schlegel

The Truth That Sets Us Free

22 Liberating Truths For Today’s Woman

1. God is good. (Ps. 119:68; 136:1)

2. God loves me and wants me to have His best. (Rom. 8:32, 38-39)

3. I am complete and accepted in Christ. (Eph. 1:6)

4. God is enough. (Ps. 23:1)

5. God can be trusted. (Isa. 28: 16)

6. God doesn’t make any mistakes! (Isa. 46:10)

- Everything that comes into my life has been “filtered through His fingers of love.”

7. God’s grace is sufficient for me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

8. The blood of Chris is sufficient to cover all my sin. (1 John 1:7)

9. The cross of Chris is sufficient to conquer my sinful flesh. (Rom. 6:6-7)

- I don’t have to sin. (Rom. 6:14)

10. My past does not have to plague me. (1 cor. 6:9-11)

- My past failures can become stepping stones to greater victory and fruitfulness.

- If I will let Him, God will cause everything that has happened to me to work together for my good and for His glory.

11. God’s Word is sufficient to lead me, teach me, and heal me. (Ps. 19:7; 107:20; 119:105)

12. Through the power of His Holy Spirit, God will enable me to do anything that He commands me to do. (1 Thess. 5:24)

- There is no one that I cannot forgive (Mark 11:25).

- There is no one that I cannot love (Matt. 5:44).

- I can give thanks in all things (1 Thess. 5:18).

- I can be content (Heb. 13:5; Phil. 4:11).

13. I’m responsible before God for my behavior, responses, and choices (Ez. 18:19-22).

14. I will reap whatever I sow (Gal. 6:7-8).

15. The pathway to true joy is to relinquish control: (Luke 1:38; 1 Pet. 5:7; Matt. 16:25)

- Of my life

- Of my [relatives]

- Of my circumstances

16. The greatest freedom I can experience is found through submission to God-ordained authority. (Eph. 5:23)

- “The heart of the king is in the Lord’s hand.” (Prov. 21:1a)

17. In the will of God, there is no higher, holier calling than to be a wife and mother. (Titus 2:4-5)

18. It is more important that I be holy, than that I be happy. (Eph. 5:26-27)

- Happiness is not a right.

19. God is more concerned about changing me and glorifying Himself, than about solving my problems. (Rom. 8:29)

20. It is impossible to be holy without suffering.

- Suffering is the #1 tool in the hand of God to conform me to the image of Jesus. (1 Pet. 5:10)

21. My suffering will not last forever. (2 Cor. 4:17-18; Ps. 30:5)

22. “It’s not about me; it’s all about Him!” (Col. 1:16-18)

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

John 8:31-32

Revive Our Hearts. www.ReviveOurHearts.com

One Day...

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
and there will no longer be any death;
there will no longer be any mourning,
or crying,
or pain"
Revelation 21:4

"Thus says the Lord, the God of your father David, 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you.'"
2 Kings 20:5

In The Master's Hands

"I watched a primitive potter at work in Pakistan.  Nothing I had ever been told ever revealed to me half so clearly exactly what is meant by the phrase, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”

This aged craftsman, with deeply lined face, stooped shoulders and delicate, sensitive hands, welcomed my missionary companion and me to his little shabby shop…

          Inside the shop the words from Jeremiah 18:2 came home to me clearly: “Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.”

In sincerity and earnestness I asked the old master craftsman to show me every step in the creation of a masterpiece…crooking a bony finger toward me, he led the way to a small, dark, closed shed at the back of this shop.  When he opened its rickety door, a repulsive, overpowering stench of decaying matter engulfed me.  For a moment I stepped back from the edge of the gaping dark pit in the floor of the shed.  “This is where the work begins!” he said, kneeling down beside the black, nauseating hole.  With his long, thin arm, he reached down into the darkness.  His slim, skilled fingers felt around amid the lumpy clay, searching for a fragment of material exactly suited to his task.

Finally his knowing hands brought up a lump of dark mud from the horrible pit where the clay had been tramped and mixed for hours by his hard, bony feet.

With tremendous impact the first verses from Psalm 40 came to my heart.  In a new and suddenly illuminating way I saw what the psalmist meant when he wrote long ago, “I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay.”  As carefully as the potter selected his clay, so God used special care in choosing me.

As the potter gently patted the ugly lump of mud in his hands into a round ball of earth… He walked, clay in hand, over to where a huge, round slab of stone stood in the center of his shop.  With meticulous precision, he placed the lump of earth exactly in the center of his wheel.  The care he took in this apparently simple step astounded me.  But it was necessary before he set the stone in motion with clay whirling at its center.

Again the word of the Lord came through clearly to my heart from Psalm 40:2, “(He) set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”

Just as the potter took special pains to center the clay on the stone wheel, so God exercises very particular care in centering my life in Christ…I too was bit of earth in the Master’s hands, and He was at work molding my life.

When the old potter settled himself on his wobbly little wooden stool before the stone, something impressed me enormously.  It was the peculiar, fascinating look that crept across his lined face.  A new light filled his eyes.  Somehow I could sense that in the crude, shapeless fragment of earth between his hands, he already saw a vase or goblet of exquisite from and beauty.  There was in this clod of crude clay enormous possibilities!  The very thought seemed thrill him.  Out of this bit of mud would emerge a unique bit of beauty as his will was impressed upon it.  His intentions, his wishes, his purpose for it were that it might become a handsome, useful article, like those other pieces of beautiful china that adorned his shelves.

And God’s gentle Spirit spoke to me softly but surely in that dimly lit little shop, saying, “Don’t you see how much anticipation and excitement fills your Father’s heart as He looks on you and holds you in His hand?  If only His will can be done in your life-in this bit of earth-a bit of heaven can be produced in your life.”

The old gentleman began to whirl the wheel gently…As the stone gathered momentum, I was taken in memory to Jeremiah 18:3. “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.”

But what stood out most before my mind at this point was the fact that beside the potter’s stool, on either side of him, stood two basins of water.  Not once did he touch the clay, now spinning swiftly at the center of the wheel, without first dipping his hands in the water…it was fascinating to see how swiftly but surely the clay responded to the pressure applied to it through those moistened hands.  Silently, smoothly, the form of a graceful goblet began to take shape beneath those hands.  The water was the medium through which the master craftsman’s will and wishes were being transmitted to the clay…

For me this was a most moving demonstration of the simple, yet mysterious truth that my Father’s will and wishes are expressed and transmitted to me through the water of His own Word.  For though I may sense that He holds me in His own wondrous hands, and though I may be aware that those same strong, skilled hands are shaping my character and guiding my career, still His will and wishes are conveyed and transmitted to me always through the medium of His Word…

Suddenly, as I watched, to my utter astonishment, I saw the stone stop.  Why? I looked closely.  The potter removed a small particle of grit from the goblet.  His fingers had felt its resistance to his touch.  He started the stone again.  Quickly he smoothed the surface of the goblet.  Then just as suddenly the stone stopped again.  He removed another hard object-another tiny grain of sand-that left a scar in the side of the clay…

Suddenly he stopped the stone again.  He pointed disconsolately to a deep, ragged gouge that cut and scarred the goblet’s side.  It was ruined beyond repair!  In dismay he crushed it down beneath his hands, a formless mass of mud laying in a heap upon the stone.

Why was this rare and beautiful masterpiece ruined in the master’s hands?  Because he had run into resistance.  It was like a thunderclap of truth bursting about me!

Why is my Father’s will-His intention to turn out truly beautiful people-brought to nougat again and again?  Because of their resistance, because of their hardness.  Why, despite His best effort and endless patience with human beings, do they end up a disaster?  Simply because they resist His will, they will not cooperate, they will not comply with His commands.  His hands-those tender, gentle, gracious hands-are thwarted by our stubborn wills.

In dismay I turned to my missionary friend and asked him in a hoarse whisper, “What will the potter do now?”  The question was passed on.  Looking up at me through eyes now clouded and sad he replied with a sorrowful shrug of his tired old shoulders, “Just make a crude finger bowl from the same lump.”

The stone started whirl again.  Swiftly, deftly, and in short order a plain little finger bowl was shaped on the wheel.  What might have been a rare and gorgeous goblet was now only a peasant’s finger bow.  It was certainly second best.  This was not the craftsman’s first or finest intention, rather, just an afterthought.  A bit of earth, a piece of clay that might have graced a nobleman’s mansion was now destined to do menial service in some beggar’s hovel…

The sobering, searching, searing question I had to ask myself in the humble surroundings of that simple potter’s shed was this: Am I going to be a piece of fine china or just a finger bowl?  Is my life going to be a gorgeous goblet fit to hold the fine wine of God’s very life from which other can drink and be refreshed? Or am I going to be just a crude finger bowl in which passersby will dabble their fingers briefly then pass on and forget all about it?"

~ From "A Laymen Looks At The Lord’s Prayer", by W. Phillip Keller, Pages 89-95