Monday, October 22, 2012

MADE OF MUD

In a novel I once read (which name I can no longer recall), four men are confessing their sins to one another. On hearing the vile nature of their sins, one of the men exclaims, "How can God let us live? Why doesn't He just kill us to purify His creation?" Another of the men said, "Because God is a potter. He works in mud."
This is literally what God did in Genesis when He formed and shaped the first human being from the dust of the earth. Like a potter, He molded and fashioned him from the clay of the earth into a vessel useful to Himself. 

I wonder how many times God looked at what He'd made and decided to start over before He finally breathed the breath of life into Adam. I also wonder how many of you reading this think He quit too soon and should have tried once more!

God continues to work with dust and mud still today, fashioning us, changing us with hard times and difficult experiences, molding us into the people He wants us to be. He wants us to serve Him and love others, and usually that takes several major and painful changes before we can become the people He wants us to be.

Most of the time, of course, we are difficult projects. Our sin has made our goodness elusive and self-serving. We want to be like God, but God wants us to have fellowship with Himself. He wants humble servants who can make the world He created a good place to live, and we aren't always good at doing that. 

After Adam and Eve sinned, God continued working with our mud, fixing, re-developing and changing us. Finally He decided to start over by sending His only Son into the world. Jesus would die in the mud and muck of our sins that put Him on Calvary's cross so that He could straighten out the messes we have made in this world. 

In gratitude to God for His mercy and faithfulness, we today should consider using our hands, feet and voices to do good for His glory. We are alive on this amazing planet, not to be perfect (Jesus already did that), nor to save the planet (one Savior is all we need). 

Rather, we are here to serve and love Him the best we can, knowing He accepts us and forgives us our failures when we have faith that His Son did all that was needed to earn salvation for us. 

Here's mud in your eye!

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