Treasure in Earthen Vessels

2 Corinthians is one of my favorite books. I'm at that critical verse in chapter 4:

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." NKJV

And in the NIV:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

Here you have two things. First off, you have this "treasure." Of course, it's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As Colossians puts it, "...Christ in you, the hope of glory." (1:27) As Jesus lives inside all of us who believe, we must keep in mind what exactly He is living in--clay pots. So we have this "treasure" in "clay pots." It really should put some perspective into our lives. In other words, remember, who is the clay pot, and who is the treasure?

So many of us have extremely high opinions of ourselves. I know I do. As a matter of fact, we are trained in the public school system on the importance of having "high self-esteem." And that's exactly what we do...we esteem ourselves very highly. But if we take an honest inventory of ourselves, we realize we're really not all that great. We have pride, attitudes, and short tempers, not to mention the more hideous sins we harbor deep in our thought lives.

We are clay pots to be sure...nothing much to look at, very fragile, and they don't really do much...except provide a place for beautiful flowers. Understand what I'm getting at?

However, despite all this, God delights in using us clay pots. He puts nothing less than Himself in us to use us for His glory. Even though we have many shortcomings, He doesn't abandon us or give up on us. This brings a great deal of joy and comfort to me, because no matter how many times I mess up, as long as I have a repentant heart and keep turning back to Him, I will always have this treasure in me. This is grace.

It would do us well to remember who's the treasure, and who's the clay pot.