Monday, September 12, 2011
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Well, we've visited a few Colonial restorations in our day as a family. My kids would always go, "No, not a tour!" But it's interesting if you get involved with some of the craftsmen. You can pretty much judge what it will be like before you get there.
Oh, yeah, you'll see some men in tricorn hats. There'll be ladies in lace caps (because the men really don't look too good in them). And there's a potter there usually. And he's pretty intriguing to watch. There he is doing his skilled work with this blob of clay. Did you ever stop to think what it's like to be the clay? I don't know why you would; only I would do this. You say, "Come on, Ron." Well look, you haven't got anything better to do for the next five minutes probably. So, let's think what it's like to be that blob of clay.
First, you get pushed, and squeezed, and poked, and then the potter takes you for a spin and you are endlessly going around in circles on his wheel. And then just about the time you say, "Oh, man, I'm glad that's over," he pops you into an oven at 2,200 degrees and you think you're going to die. Then he takes you out at last only to put you back in that oven at another 2,200 degrees. I can imagine that you would say to the potter, "Why are you doing this to me?" You know, the longer I think like the clay, the more familiar these feelings seem—maybe for you, too. Why is God spinning you around, squeezing you, putting you through this heat right now?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Oven, The Wheel, and the Masterpiece."
Our word for today from the Word of God gives us a little insight into the potter and that blob of clay that we feel like sometimes - Romans 8:28. You know the verse, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." Did you ever notice people always quote those things after the crisis is over. "Yes, all things work together for good." No, the trick is to quote "All things work together for good" in the middle of the crisis when you can't see the good. But how can all things work together for good?
Well, you can't understand that until you get to verse 29, "For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son." The purpose for these "all things that are working together" for the good in your life, the purpose is for you to be like Jesus. God says, "I will work all these things together to help you be in some way more like My Son; having more of His traits."
Now, after we saw the potter, we went to the gift shop. And I saw what he could make of that blob of clay. Every squeeze, every poke, every spin, every cooking was to turn that clay into a masterpiece. Well, you're God's clay and the mold is Jesus.
One of life's most frequently asked questions, and you might be asking it right now is, "Why, God? Why is this happening?" Well, there's one answer that fits all those situations. You can listen to the Lord saying, "Because this can make you more like My Son. That's the good I'm working it together for."
Now, there are some hard things in your life that God sends, there are others that He allows, but He will only send or allow what can make you more valuable. You can't learn to love like Jesus unless there's someone in your life who's hard to love. You can't learn the kind of sensitivity Christ had without going through a hurting time. You can't learn to have Jesus' patience without having to wait for something or to put up with somebody difficult. You can't learn Jesus' joy without circumstances that you have to rise above. You can't learn Jesus' peace without some pressure on you. You can't learn faith without needs that are bigger than you have the ability to meet.
Unlike the clay, though, you choose whether the potter's beautiful intentions are realized; whether you'll let it make you like Jesus or not. If you forget the goal, you can become desperate, and bitter, and hard, and self-absorbed. Or you can let Christ use it for the ultimate goal. You may not enjoy the process, but at least you can understand it's going to a great result. If you're going to get the pain, get the point.
If the question is, "Why, God?" He's saying, "To make you more like Jesus." And the oven, and the wheel are how He turns blobs of clay into masterpieces.