THE VESSEL SHAPED

“The potter took a lump of plastic clay and threw it into the very center of the revolving wheel. Had he placed it a little to one side, the vessel would have emerged eccentric, lopsided. The spiritual lesson needs no emphasis. Then, as his skilful fingers molded and caressed the clay, the pattern conceived in the potter’s mind began to emerge. He shaped it first from without and then from within until the shapeless clay began to be a thing in beauty.

The potter was an experienced and skilful man. God is supremely skilful in the molding of human lives. He is no experimenter. He makes no mistakes. He never spoils His own work. The tragedy is that sometimes we arrogantly assume the role of the potter and try to shape our own lives, with disastrous results.

The wheel on which the vessel is molded represents the circumstances of daily life that shape our characters. How varied they are! Heredity, temperament, and environment are largely beyond our control, but they have strong, formative influence. God’s providential dealings also play their part…All are factors that God uses to change us progressively into the likeness of Christ.

In the clay we see our human nature. “You molded me like the clay,” said Job (10:9). Clay is without value apart from the touch of the potter. Its paramount value lies in its capacity to receive and retain the pattern in the potter’s mind….

A human life, like clay, has almost limitless potential when yielded to the heavenly Potter’s touch. Why are some lives radiant and others drab? They are made from the same material. The difference is in the degree to which the Potter is allowed to work out the beautiful design in His mind.”