The pressure on the wheel

Matthew 23:25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

I Samual 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Did you know that any potter can make a beautiful pot? All that the potter has to do with the clay is press from the outside of the clay. By doing this the potter shapes what the piece is to eventually look like. There is a problem that arises in doing this. When placed into the kiln for firing, the piece literally goes to pieces. It blows up! Often this not only destroys the piece but often many of the vessels around it.

The reason for this self destruction is that the piece has trapped moisture within it that eventually destroys it in an effort to escape when heated. Quite literally, the piece is full of itself.

In order for a piece to avoid this result, is for the potter to hollow it out and place His hand within the piece to place pressure on the clay from the inside to equal the pressure being placed on it from the outside. In this way the potter supports the clay on the inside of the piece against the pressure of the outside world.

In the same way, we, as jars of clay, can be made to look good from the outside observer and yet remain full of ourselves rather than full of the hand of the potter. The Potter has placed a pressure maker (read Holy Spirit) to not only place pressure within us in the form of conviction to do right, but also support us against the pressure of the world around us.

We pots must constantly submit ourselves to the potter, who lovingly pushes us to be beautiful, useful vessels.

In what area are you allowing the pressure of the world around you to determine the shape of the vessel you were called to become? In what areas can you recognize the Potter’s hand pushing you from within to stand up against those pressures?

MT