We are made of MUD, ‘Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’
Genesis 2:7.
Then he added water. After all, we are 60% water. Now you have mud or clay.
Clay is the product of weathering or the disintegration of rock. When God created Adam and Eve, he reversed the process of weathering. They began to grow upward ever closer to God and their end would have been Heaven, a place that is the exact opposite of disintegration!
Instead, they disobeyed God and He kicked them out of the Garden! And God said to them,
(Now) “you (will) return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:19. Sin or disobedience caused separation from God and the beginning of the weathering and disintegration of man and ultimately death. A return to DUST!
The separation, weathering and disintegration of man continues to this day! Death reigns! And all because of SIN. Just look around you. Everything is disintegrating! Your house, your car, your body. You can see it in the faces of so many people, weathered by separation from the one who made them and originally intended to raise them up from the dust to be with Him in this life and the one to come!
What was God’s answer to separation and the weathering it causes? He sent His Son, Jesus to pay the price for Adam and Eve’s and our sins! He was sent to reverse the process of weathering and disintegration caused first by the sins of Adam and Eve and then you and I!
‘Therefore, we do not lose heart. (When you accept Him), though outwardly we are wasting away, (disintegrating like rock) yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.’
2 Corinthians 4:16.
MrB’s Pots.
I am a potter! (See my pots in photo above). Mud is good! What I have always found fascinating about clay is, I take clay (dust and water), the product of the weathering and disintegration of rock and right here on earth where everything else is disintegrating, I turn the process around. I make a pot we potters’ call STONEware. It becomes a rock all over again. What a perfect, natural world illustration of what Jesus wants to do for us!!! And God wants to make a beautiful pot out of you! ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.’ See Jeremiah 18:1-6.
But…you, like clay must be malleable; soft and pliable. Even the master potter cannot make a beautiful vessel with hard, stiff clay. God cannot form you into the vessel He destined you to be if you are hard, stiff necked and strong willed. Be malleable. Say YES to God and He will make a beautiful vessel out of you!
BUT, beware, to become a beautiful pot, you must go through the fire….
Fire vitrifies or hardens the clay so it will hold water and melts the glaze that makes the pot beautiful and functional.
Fire for us comes in the form of trials and tribulations that refine us…makes us beautiful like Jesus. ‘For God is like a refiner’s fire! He refines us like silver or gold! But take heart! ‘My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.’ Proverbs 3:11-12.
God LOVES you!
Let Him make you into a BEAUTIFUL vessel!
my prayer, lord help me yield to you, to and be maleable to be a beautiful vessel of honor in your hands!
kb
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Your pottery is beautiful, Mr. B! I remember when you taught us about rake firing back in the late 80s, and the extreme heat from the kiln when you opened it.
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This is David Bahm, by the way. WordPress was acting weird when I entered the comment above. Oh… it changed “Raku” to “rake”. Raku was my favorite technique in ceramics class at ORU.
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What beautiful pottery dad! And a beautiful representation of God.
SP
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