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THE POWER OF THE CLAY

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels (Jeremiah 18:1-3).

The power is in the clay! When observing a potter working with his wheel, one might take for granted that the power is in the wheel-a monotonous going-in-circles energy. Or, one might consider the source of the power to be in the movement of the foot and treadle-a spinning force. Then again, possibly the strength is in the hands of the potter, as he shapes and molds the clay. But to the careful observer, the absolute power-the real power-rests in the clay. For it is in the clay that we find the power of yielding, the power of becoming. The best potter, the most skilled craftsman, cannot do anything with clay that refuses to be molded. The power to become-and the power to resist-is in the clay.

You Must Learn Your Lesson

When the Lord spoke to Jeremiah as recorded in the passage above, an interesting phrase was used. He said, '...I will cause thee to hear My words.' Sometimes we are listening, intentionally and intently. At other times, God must 'cause' us to listen. Perhaps we are not in the right frame of mind to hear Him, or maybe just not prepared to understand Him. Often in our lives, He must give us illustrated lessons, such as He did here with Jeremiah. When God wants to teach you faithfulness, He will lead you through an experience to give you the opportunity to learn its definition. There is a vast difference between knowing something and learning it. You can know something in your head, but it is only when you 'learn your lesson' that it becomes a part of your heart. When you bring knowing to learning, you bring the lesson into the living level of your personal experience. God doesn't want us just to know; He wants us to learn.

God guides us through life experiences that turn words into lessons learned. The word of the Lord to Jeremiah was to go to the potter's house. When Jeremiah arrived there, he saw something. What he saw became a word from the Lord to him. Whether you will hear the word of the Lord or not often depends on what you are looking for.

Back to the Basics

Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel (Jeremiah 18:3-6).

At first glance, this scene probably seemed quite ordinary to the old prophet. I have personally visited in the Mid-East and have watched potters working the clay in the old-time way. I've seen them carefully form a vase then perceive some flaw with their fingertips that I as a casual observer could not detect. The next thing I knew the clay was crushed on the wheel, and the potter began again his painstaking work.

As the prophet was lamenting about Israel and their situation, he heard 'Arise, Jeremiah, and go face reality.' God said, 'Let me show you the root of the problem' and took him to watch again something he had no doubt been seeing since he was just a boy. It was something so basic and primary. A potter. A wheel. Clay.

It is dangerous to get away from the basics of God, to forget in the froth and foam of life what is real. The vital issues of life are not on the peripheral edges; sometimes it is necessary for God to take us back to the basics.

Can you imagine what Jeremiah must have thought when he first heard the command to go to the potter's house? It was as tasteless as sand. 'What can I learn there I don't already know? I've watched that old potter more times than I can count. Why, Lord, I can even tell You exactly how they operate. But You said to go, so go I will.' Jeremiah was about to learn that God sometimes works in circles.

Walking in Circles

Have you ever gotten caught in one of God's eddies? Israel marched around the same mountain for 40 years until they learned what God wanted them to learn. It was a difference between knowing and learning. Once it was learned God released them. Once the old Egyptian flesh died and was buried, He set them free from their trek around the mountain. Have you ever felt like you were marching round and round your own mountain? I could give guided tours!

It's monotonous. And it is very, very dangerous. It is easy to get disillusioned with the routine, the tedious sameness of it, and instead try to make something happen. Spiritual vertigo can be destructive. The fact is, most of our walking with God is routine. It is not spectacular. It is not fireworks and awe-inspiring displays. It is the slow steady burn of a single flame. The power of routine is what saved Daniel. He prayed every day. He didn't pray more in crisis; he didn't pray less in ease. His prayer neither sped up nor slowed down the process.

In a strikingly familiar passage, another prophet wrote, 'They that wait upon the Lord...' (Is. 40:31) ...shall do what? Notice the progression in that passage is reverse of what we ordinarily think. He said, 'mount up with wings as eagles'; then 'run, and not be weary'; then 'walk, and not faint.' We automatically want to start walking, then accelerate to a run, then take wing and fly. God says, 'No, that's not My way. You may start off flying, then you'll come down to running, but most of the time you'll be walking.' It's consecrated plodding. One foot in front of the other. That's not to say there will not be those high-flying, ecstatic experiences. They simply are the exception, not the rule. Where you finally end up is in the very basic skill of walking with God.

A Set Foundation for Each Generation

We cannot afford to tamper with the basic, foundational issues. Paul said, 'Leaving the foundation, go on to maturity and perfection' (see Heb. 6:1). He didn't mean to tear the foundation up and start all over again without it. He was saying that we must acknowledge some things are settled. They are foundational. Once the foundation is set, you begin to build. The superstructure may vary. How many rooms-where you put the walls-those things are open for discussion. However, the foundation is set. 'If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?' (Ps. 11:3) These truths, though they may appear to be tiresomely monotonous, though their changlessness can perhaps frustrate, are foundational-basic to a successful life with God. We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

Each generation must experience God for themselves. God has no grandchildren. While our children may inherit our organizations, our finances, or our buildings, they cannot inherit our experience with God. The foundational structure of the Kingdom remains firm and must be learned by each succeeding generation, as they embark upon building a structure for their own generation.

The Power of the Clay

God started out as a potter in the Garden of Eden. He formed man out of clay. He knows more about the pottery business and the pottery process than anyone. He commanded Jeremiah to go to the potter's house for the purpose of learning a lesson. So Jeremiah went. As he watched the potter put the clay on the wheel. He saw him mold it and shape it into some type of vessel. Then he watched as the vessel became marred, causing the potter to start the process over again. The wheel was willing. The potter was willing. But the power to become was in whether or not the clay would yield to what the master potter had in mind. When the vessel became marred, it was not the fault of the wheel. The wheel was doing what it was supposed to be doing. Neither can we blame the potter. The potter was experienced and highly skilled. He knew what he was doing. The power was in the clay.

The God of a Second Chance

The Bible continues the story and recounts how the potter 'made it again.' I believe God has a perfect pattern for our lives-a design for what He wants us to become. He places us on the wheel and begins the process of molding and shaping us into His image. When we can't cooperate-or rather, don't cooperate-and the power to become is limited by what we will allow, He is patient. He does not throw us away. He says, 'I will make it again.'

In the olden times of skilled craftsmen, the potter always had a second vessel in mind. It might not have been as beautiful or as useful as the first, but potters were committed to trying again. The vessel might never have been what it could have been. Yet, willing to get back on the wheel another time, even for second best, the clay still held within itself the power to become.

I want to be what God has always wanted me to be. Yet my prayer is, 'Lord, if I don't yield or if I forget the basics, then please don't throw me in the potter's field. Put me on the wheel again. Find a place for me-somewhere.' It is a prayer He will answer.

Most potters give clay three chances. If after three attempts to mold clay the potter is still unsuccessful, he abandons the process. The clay is left unmolded and unusable. God, on the other hand, never gives up on us. He is always willing to put us back on the wheel and make us again. He is the God of a second chance.

God's Will for the Clay

Remember this somewhat simplistic thought:

Evolutionists take us back to animals; God goes further back than the evolutionists and takes us to mud. We might think we are 'really something'-but we are nothing but a glorified mud ball.

The difference between mud and the vase is the clay. From mud ball to vessel of usefulness, the power is in the clay whether to yield to the design that is in the Master's mind.

'We have this treasure in earthen vessels...' (2 Cor. 4:7).

This treasure is in a house of clay. God has deposited Himself in each of us with the infilling of His Spirit. In Jeremiah 29:11, the Lord said, 'I know the thoughts that I think toward you...to give you an expected end.' One translation says, '...a bright future and hope...'

God did not just fling you out in the nebulous of life and forget you. He has a plan for you. He has a will for your life. He doesn't play divine games of hide-and-seek. We are not pawns on some cosmic sacred chessboard. Too often we think the will of God is an elusive idea. I personally believe that He wants to make His will known to us sometimes even more desperately than we claim to be seeking to know His will.

Our problem is not finding the will of God, it is in doing the will of God. A lot of what we call trying to find God's will is actually trying to change God's mind. He has a plan but too often we have a mind-set-a preconceived notion of what we want to do and who we want to be. So, we pray and pray and maybe even fast a day or two. We try to change God's mind, to convince Him our plan is better than His.

Prophetically, the passage in Jeremiah was a message to Israel. They would not yield. They resisted much like the clay on the observed potter's wheel. It hardened and would not yield to the ministrations of the potter. It fell apart in his hands. God was trying to convey to Jeremiah-and then to Israel-that the power to be was within them. God is not an unwilling God. You don't pray to get God in a good mood. You don't pray to purchase power with Him to buy your own way. Days of fasting don't add purchase power to your prayers. You pray-and you fast-to enhance your relationship with Him. When He places you on the wheel, He molds you into the best you can possibly be or become for Him.

Remember Pharaoh? He was a God-rejector. When human will clashes blatantly with God's will the result is often quite spectacular. God is determined to transform us but He will not violate or burglarize the human will. He will not force Himself on us. We must yield to Him.

When Pharaoh refused, the frogs came. He cried, 'Oh, Moses, get this off us.' The frogs disappeared. Yet Exodus 8:15 tells us, 'But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite [or relief], he hardened his heart, and hearkened not....' Five times he hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

In Exodus, chapter 10, the Lord told Moses to go to Pharaoh, noting in advance, '...for I have hardened his heart.' God hardened his heart? Rest assured God never hardens a man's heart before the man has hardened it himself.

A word of explanation here. The same sun that melts butter, also hardens clay. It is in the substance. It is not the sun. You must be melted before you can be molded. Sometimes God sends us into a meltdown. Everything seems to be falling apart. Financial dilemmas, family stresses, work issues make us physically and emotionally exhausted. We take the pieces and say, 'Lord, please put me back together...' and unspoken but not unfelt is the specification, '...but put me back together again just like I was.'

God will always give you the best if you leave the choice to Him. What we must do is bring our human mind and its frailties into submission to the mind of God. The divine mind and the human mind bring the flesh-the clay-under control. 'Not my will, but Thine be done' is the prayer of a surrendered mind, heart, and will. It is the cry of moldable clay. It is the power cry of human surrender to divine intervention.

Your Final Surrender, Not the Struggle, Is What Matters to God.

Everyone around Pharaoh told him to give up and give in. The servants told him. The magicians told him. It's even recorded that one time he himself cried out, 'I've sinned.' Yet he constantly rejected the pleas of Moses. Finally, he was totally hardened against the children of Israel and their cries. God sees the final choice, not just what intervenes between the initial encounter and the final decision. What counts with God is the final choice. Pharaoh could have turned around at the last plague and said, 'I give in, God. Have Your way with us all.' God would have forgotten all the times he hadn't yielded and honored the final determination.

So it continues to be with God and His children. We have all experienced times when self-will has wrestled against God's will. Yet when the yielding is finally done, the struggle is forgotten. The final relinquishment of self is what matters ultimately to God. 'Not my will, but Thine be done' is not diluted by 'If it be Thy will...let it pass....' The fact that when it comes down to the final drawing of lines I say, 'Here I am Lord, what do You want me to do?' is all that is important to Him, not the process that brings us to that point of surrender.

I'd rather meet a fence at the top of a cliff than the ambulance at the bottom. Some things God positions in our way are protective measures. He wants us to turn out right. We'll never move mountains as long as we're satisfied to scrape the top off of anthills.

The prodigal son said, 'Give me the goods.' The Father simply said, 'All right.' Anytime you want back what you've given to God, He'll give it back to you. He wants no unwilling servants. If you don't want to be what God wants you to be, the power is yours to determine it. He is a God of fairness. He will not force you; He will not violate your desires or your will. God is fair.

God is fair? Fair? What about... ? Yes, He is fair. Let me show you.

'Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy' (Mt. 5:7).

If you want mercy, show mercy. How do you want to be judged by God? You will be judged by God according to how you judge everyone else. The same judgment you mete out is going to be meted out to you. Isn't that fair? God allows us to set our own judgment. Do you need forgiveness? Forgive.

Now the converse is also true...if you don't want to be forgiven, unforgiveness is fine. If you want or need no mercy, then there is no need to be merciful. And you will never know what you could have become if you had yielded to Him and His molding.

Do you recall the story of Achan? Can you imagine Joshua's consternation that day? They went out to battle, not even taking a full charge of warriors because he was so confident of impending victory. The people of Ai were few and victory seeming assured. Yet when all was said and done, the Israelites ran away defeated. Joshua rent his clothes and fell on his face before the Lord saying, '...Lord, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!' (see Josh. 7:7) But when the rest of the story was made known to Joshua and the elders, they realized the tragedy of one hardened heart was at the root of it all.

Achan had walked 40 years in the wilderness. He had circled the mountain. He had eaten the manna. He had seen the pillar of cloud and followed the pillar of fire. But somewhere along the way...just before time to cash in on a victory, he caved in. He hardened his heart. In the final moments he lost out because of self-will. What a tragic end to a man's life story.

Only when you give God your will, really surrender yourself to Him, can He become active in your life. When you kneel at the altar under duress, it will not hold. Someone said we need dedication and we need re-dedication. What we really need is total surrender. When you surrender to Him, you surrender to the power of becoming what God wants you to become.

Judas was only 51 days from having his name in the foundation of that City not made with hands. If he could have held on for just 1,224 more hours, what a different end there would be to his story. Instead, he ended up in a potter's field-despite Jesus' giving him one last chance. Jesus said, 'Whoever dips with Me...' (see Mt. 26:23). What if he hadn't done it? What if, at that point, he had yielded? His whole life's ending would have been different and God would have counted only the surrender, not the struggle. Instead, the enemy entered his heart and the power in the unsurrendered clay became death and destruction.

Yielding to the Potter Brings Joy

I have often said, 'Life is not doing what you want to do; life is doing what you ought to do.' Happiness is not doing what you like as much as it is liking what you do. Yielding to the Potter and allowing Him to make us what He designed us to be is the ultimate of eternal joy, rather than temporal happiness.

The Lord was trying to convey to Jeremiah that the problem didn't lie with God, but with the Israelites. He said, 'Jeremiah, the problem is not Me. It's not you. It is these unyielding people.' It was a basic message.

Sometimes life is tough. Rose petals falling on a rock never produce precious stones. Constant happiness never produces strong Christians. The Lord loves you too much to shield you from everything that is uncomfortable. I've heard some claim, 'The Lord loves me like I am.' Yes, He does. He also loves you too much to leave you that way. He will send things into our lives. Wheels. Sharp instruments to etch His impression on us. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if clay could talk? 'Hey! Do you have to slap me around so much?' 'What's with your fingers stretching me out like that?' 'Watch it! I liked that bump!' Change hurts. Being made from our image into His doesn't happen without pain.

Jesus came to make disciples, not just to secure converts or church attendees. The word disciple comes from discipline. Both words are from the Latin discipulus, which means 'pupil.' According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the two primary definitions of discipline are: 1) 'Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement' and 2) 'Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.' Disciples are, according to that authority, 'active adherents' to a philosophy. To become a disciple is to embrace changes in our lives and hearts that will conform us to His image. It affects our character, our behavior; it improves our morals, it improves our mental status, and it is an exercise in self-control. For we are no longer tossed about by the winds, but stand firm on the rock that is Christ Jesus.

He wants us to move from feelings to faith. From impulse to dedication. From infancy to maturity. From experience to a learned walk with God. From being an audience to being an army. To do that, we must learn to yield to God. The power is in the clay-the power is in us to yield, or not.

Under Pressure on the Wheel

I heard a story one time of a little boy who stood on the street corner and shined the shoes of willing passersby. He did a good job and many customers returned for his services. One morning, though, while busy at his work, his countenance was glum. The man whose shoes were being shined looked down and realized teardrops were falling from the boy's face onto his somewhat polished shoe. He jerked his foot back, and harshly said, 'Boy, what's wrong with you? You're getting your salty tears on my shoe. I ought not give you another dime!' The boy looked up, tears still flowing, and said, 'Sir, my mom died last night. I'm just trying to make enough money this morning to buy some flowers for her funeral.' Tears sprung to the man's eyes. He gently removed the buffer from the boy's hand, wiped the last of the tears away, and pressed a ten-dollar bill into the boy's palm before going on his way. On the surface, the boy's service looked like a botched job. But, when the man knew the heart of the boy, it changed everything.

Too often we are too quick to judge. A brother or sister can be under pressure on the wheel, and we don't understand. God brings circumstances into our lives, not to break us, but to make us. Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds you or polishes you depends on what you are made of and how you take it. The saying is, 'Look on the bright side...' but sometimes the response is, 'There isn't a bright side to this.' In those times, our only hope is to polish up the dull side!

In my estimation the Lord probably hears the sound of the fifteenth letter of the alphabet more than any other human verbiage. 'Oh! Ohhhhh! Oh, God!' The wheel is not always a comfortable place to be, but it is the only place to be as we become more like Him and more like what He wants us to be.

Mold us. Make us. Convict us. Convert us. Convince us. Commit us. Help us to be what we know we ought to be-and to allow You to send whatever circumstances are required for Your perfect will to be accomplished in us.

We need the power to become. He is saying to us, 'The power to become is in you.' The power is in the clay. We pray, 'Lord, use me.' We used to sing a chorus that said, 'Jesus, use me. Please Lord, don't refuse me. Surely there's a work that I can do...' I promise if you will get in a position where God can use you, He will wear you out! However, it doesn't happen just by mouthing the words. You must place yourself in a position and condition where God can use you. When hardness of heart sets in, we can no longer distinguish between right and wrong, true and false. We cannot understand or even feel the hands of the Potter.

Have Faith in God's Wheel

There is an old adage that says, 'For every problem under the sun, there is a solution or there is none. If there is one, seek until you find it. If there isn't one, never mind it.' You can wear yourself out trying to get off the wheel He has sent to design you. A mark of maturity in Christ is to understand there are some problems that cannot be solved. You must just live through them. I've seen families who have messed up, then messed up again, then messed up again. Some have carried a load for years and short-circuited their ability to walk with God. You can't unring a bell, but you can stop it from tolling again and again.

What can you do about it? Leave it in the hands of God. Press on. Keep becoming what God wants you to be. There are many things in life we cannot change. You cannot go back and undo past mistakes. You can learn from them and not repeat them. The tragedy that often determines whether you are able to get past something or whether you will repeat the same mistake is doubt. If you doubt yourself, if you doubt God, if you doubt His ability to get you past your past-doubt wins, you lose.

Doubt is sick faith. From time to time in our lives we all experience doubt. There is a significant difference between doubt and unbelief. Unbelief says, 'I'm not going to believe.' But to doubt, you must first have had a measure of faith. Doubt only occupies space left by faith abandoned.

Occasionally our faith catches a 'virus.' First, a little doubt comes in and you have to deal with it. You have to return to the basics and have a personal confrontation with God. Seeing Him high and lifted up and knowing He is in control of everything in our lives can renew our faith-in Him and in ourselves. Ourselves? Yes, when it dawns on me that I am not in control, when I acknowledge that He is in control, my faith in His ability to use me and the circumstances of my life for His glory is renewed.

The Bible says,

'Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you' (1 Pet 5:7).

David wrote,

'...I [have never] seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread' (Ps. 37:25).

The word cast in both the Hebrew and Greek means 'to throw and let go. To throw in a particular direction, to be more specific, and let go.' He said, 'Throw it in God's direction and let loose of it.'

In my part of the country (central Louisiana), the word cast brings to mind the whir-r-r-r and pop of a lure on the end of a casting rod as it hits the water. With a little wrist and elbow action we reel it right back in. We cast it-and reel it back in-and hopefully in the process attract a fish to the little lure and bring it back, too. So it is that in some of our altar experiences, we cast something on the Lord...then slowly but surely start reeling it back in to ourselves, having never truly surrendered it. Sure, we let it go long enough to make it look like it is being cast at His feet...but a strong chord of personal possession remains attached to it and we ultimately don't give anything to Him at all.

Stay on the Wheel Until You Conquer

We must reach an understanding in our hearts and minds as to what truly occurs to a person who is on His wheel. Sometimes something bad happens to us in life. We finally get over it and it happens again. And again. And again. And finally we say, 'God, what's wrong? Why does this keep happening to me?' His answer is simple: 'As soon as you learn what it is I am trying to teach you, we will go on to the next lesson. Until then, you will have to keep working on this one.' Little irritating things (and big ones) will keep popping up. Stay on the wheel. He knows what He's doing, even when it is obscured from you and me.

Have you ever studied pearls? A pearl is a tribute to a conquered irritant. There is a little oyster on the bottom of the ocean doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. It is cleansing the ocean-removing the algae while opening and closing. It is functioning in the exact plan and purpose of God for itself. All of a sudden, a grain of sand gets lodged. The oyster could say, 'Oh, I have been so mistreated. I was just doing what I am supposed to be doing and now this! I am just going to clam up. I'm never opening again.' But that's not the way it happens. The oyster takes that irritant and makes something beautiful and valuable of it and just keeps going. There will always be some kind of irritant that will get into our lives. We can either be bitter or better because of it. A pearl is a tribute to a conquered irritant.

Here's a humorous thought: People talk about the pearly gates as if they are gates covered with pearls when in fact, according to the Scripture, each gate is one pearl. Twelve gates each constructed of a single pearl. First, I'd like to see the oyster. Second, did that oyster ever have a problem!

Another lesson that comes to mind in this discussion of pearly gates is that you and I will pass through the gates of that City through conquered problems. As you pass into that City not made with hands, you can with a shout declare, 'I have conquered my last problem. I am passing through the gates and I have made it home!'

Softening the Clay

Don't harden your heart. Life has a way of grinding you up. Life has a way of stepping on you. I have been stomped on. I have been disappointed. People have lied about me. People have called me names. I have been given instruction I did not think I needed. I have been kicked in the appropriate portion of the anatomy. (Anytime people are kicking you in the rear, at least you know who's out front.) Trials come with life.

'The problem, Jeremiah, in this object lesson, is the clay. The problem is in Israel.' God is not the problem. The circumstances are not the problem. The power to become is in the clay. Hardening of the heart is bad business.

David also sinned. Yet the minute Nathan said, 'Thou art the man,' David's heart was melted (see 2 Sam. 12:7-13). He could have said, 'I am the king. I can do whatever I please. Nathan, be gone with you!' He could have given the order to hang the prophet who spoke words unpleasant to the king. But instead, he repented before God. You can prove you are a surrendered Christian when God puts a situation in your way which could mean almost life and death, and you choose to show mercy, not judgment.

David did not harden his heart. Consequently, when he said, 'Lord, have mercy upon me according to Thy lovingkindness...according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies,' He prayed according to God's mercy (see Ps. 51). He did not make excuses. All of us tend to think at times that the universe runs its axis right through our lives. Sometimes we envision our way of thinking as the present reality of God. But David simply threw himself on the mercies of God. He had been a man who had shown mercy. He then sought God to show mercy to him. 'I acknowledge my transgression. My sin is ever before me.' He did not hesitate to admit his guilt, nor to name his sin. He had sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba and the armies, but he took his guilt further still: 'Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned.'

Deep Down on the Inside

David said, 'Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.' He was transparently honest. It is not a question of 'God, what do You want to know?' It is not only what I am doing but why I am doing it. 'Truth in the inward parts' is a question about what we are deep down on the inside. When pressure is applied to our lives, what's on the inside of us is revealed.

In Acts when Stephen was being accused of blasphemy by the council, the Bible says his face shone like an angel (see Acts 6:15). Why? Because when they put pressure on him, as they were literally piling stones on him, what was inside him came out. When pressure is applied, whatever is on the inside will become evident. If you are full of the love of God, mercy, a love for the Word, a love for His Kingdom-that's what will appear. But if you are full of bad temper, unforgiveness, bitterness, fear-those things will display themselves under pressure as well.

Sometimes God applies pressure for self-revelation. We need to discover what is inside so we can correct it. Remember, He wants truth in the inward parts. The only way we are able to judge people is outwardly-by what we see. I would easily agree that if a man is addicted to alcohol, as a pastor I would not want this individual as a choir member. However, I might have men and women in my choir who are full of pride. The liquor might smell worse to me, but the pride might smell worse to God.

God wants to know what we are made of deep down on the inside. He will put the Church in a position where He can find out. There is no need to find fault with the circumstances of your life. You can waste time blaming people, your background, your environment, your life situation. However, there are times in life when you just have to 'finish the chapter.' Regardless of how bad it is, or how bad it was-make an end to the chapter and be done with it-and get on with the rest of the book. The end of the chapter is not the end of the book.

Paul said, 'Forgetting those things which are behind...I press toward the mark...' (Phil. 3:13b-14). Sometimes life requires that you forget the past and press to the future. If you drag all the garbage you have picked up in life behind you, you will not make much progress. Cut it loose and let it go. Jesus is a good garbage collector. He alone can make all things new.

Take the Blame

If you really want reconciliation in your life with a brother or sister who has wronged you, you must be willing to take 100 percent of the blame. 'But it wasn't my fault. I didn't do it; why should I take the blame for it?' The question then is: Do you want to be a Christian? Jesus was not to blame but the Bible said He 'hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all' (Is. 53:6b). He blamed Himself for my sin; He took my sin upon Himself. Jesus took the blame, yet He was not at fault. But, His action brought reconciliation between God and all of mankind. This is not necessarily what I am, but it is what I ought to be. Would I be willing to take unmerited blame to effect reconciliation?

Yet we continue to insist on my rights, my way, my say, my opinion, my choice. There are times when God will place you in a situation and you may have to take the blame.

Time and again I have witnessed situations where it appears someone is getting away with something. But the truth of the matter is, I have also lived long enough to see that sooner or later no one gets away with anything. It is simply a matter of timing. When David's men encountered the sleeping Saul, they said, 'Let me at him! I'll take care of him for good!' David said, 'Not only will I not do it myself, I will not let you do it' (see 1 Sam. 26:7-11). He knew God would take care of Saul in His time.

Henry VIII, caught in his sin, killed his wives. Caesar, too, killed his wives. Before them, David was a king with the power to take life. However, ultimately he said, 'Have mercy on me! I did it. I have sinned!' He was a man after God's own heart. That's the power of the clay! Power to become what God intends for us to be, instead of what we would become on our own.

Standards That Set Ourselves Apart

To each of us is given the choice-the potter's wheel or the potter's field. If we are going to be a generation of men and women used by God, we must yield to His will and His way. God doesn't use us all the same way. Yet the foundational issues for each of us remain intact. Don't touch them. We may not all have the same type of ministry. We don't even all believe alike. (Attend a prophecy conference and you will see that there is much on which we disagree.) The question is are we willing to, on the wheel, be molded and remolded-yielding to His will and His way, which calls for unity in the midst of diversity?

Some people get pushed out of shape (after all, we are talking about clay here) over church discipline or standards. Standards are designed to be your guardrails. They aren't the highway; they are the barriers that mark its sides. I don't want to get on a highway that doesn't have guardrails. Nor do I want to use the railings as the road-you certainly cannot drive on them.

Study the epistles and see what professing, born-again Christian people are capable of doing. Why did Paul write to the church at Ephesus and say, 'Let him that stole steal no more' (Eph. 4:28a) if there were no thieves among them? What were they doing at the Lord's table in Corinth, if they weren't imbibing a little too much, too long? Gluttony and neglect of others were present among them.

George Barna said in The Second Coming of the Church, 'The Bible clearly states that true believers should be readily distinguished from nonbelievers by the way they live. Yet the evidence undeniably suggests that most American Christians today do not live in a way that is quantifiably different from those non-Christian peers in spite of the fact they profess to believe in a set of principles that should clearly set them apart' (pp. 120-121).

Sitting on the Shelf

The power to be is in the clay. Yet, when the potter takes the clay vessel off the wheel, the next place it goes is the fire. It is part of the process. Although we like the finished product, we may not like the process. From the fire it goes to the shelf to 'cure.' You haven't lived until God has put you on the shelf awhile. You cannot be made directly available for commerce. You cannot be used until you have been on the shelf a while. Sometimes, through trials, God just parks us.

'In your patience, possess ye your souls' (Lk. 21:19).

I've been parked a few times in my life. I've wandered, 'God, are you ever going to do something here?' It has been attributed to Smith Wigglesworth, who at a similar time in his life said, 'Either God moves me or I move God, but something's got to give.'

Why does He park us? To see what we are going to do. Are you going to blame everyone else? Blame the system? Blame the pastor? 'I think I could teach this class, but Pastor just ignores me.' Just sit there and cure awhile. When you're ready, God will see. Your gift will make room for itself.

The wheel, the hands of the potter, the heat, the shelf. It is all part of the process of what God has in mind for what He wants you to be. This treasure of God in an earthen vessel. Why shouldn't He try the vessels in which He intends to deposit eternal treasure?

I want to be a Christian before anything else. I want to be remembered by my family and closest associates, above everything else, as a Christian. To me, that is the highest title that can be given a man. It is up to me. The power is in the clay. Yield to Him and become.

Never Hearing 'It Can't Be Done'

George Danzig was one of the world's leading mathematicians and served as head of the Department of Mathematics at Stanford University for many years. When he was a student, he had to study hard to make good grades. One night, for the final exam in Mathematics, which was his specialty, he pulled the well-known all-nighter studying. About dawn, his eyes heavy with sleep, he laid his head down on his desk and dozed off to later awaken with a start. Realizing he was late for class and his final examination, he jumped up, splashed water on his face, and literally ran to the classroom.

The class had already begun. As the professor handed him the test, he sat down and looked up on the board, where the professor had written three additional problems. When the time was up for the exam, he went to the professor and said, 'Sir, I was late and I apologize. Would you give me a little extra time to work these three problems on the board? I've got them on a separate piece of paper.' The professor smiled at him and said, 'Yes, in fact, you've been a good student this semester. I'll give you until tomorrow.' George Danzig worked all day and into the night on the problems and finally had to admit defeat. He went in and laid the paper on the teacher's desk with a note, 'I could not work the third problem.' He went back to his dorm room and fell into an exhausted sleep.

Later he was awakened by someone banging on his dormitory room door. 'George! George! Wake up!' He stumbled to the door and there was his professor just about jumping up and down with excitement. 'What is it, Professor?' 'George, this is your paper?' 'Yes, sir. I never could get the answer to that third problem. I'm sorry.' 'George, my boy! You don't understand. You weren't there when I opened the class and explained to them what the three problems written on the board were. These are the three problems Albert Einstein could not solve. You worked two of them!'

Because George Danzig didn't hear anyone say, 'It can't be done,' he didn't know and was not affected by the negative words. What a God! Yield to Him. Whatever He has in mind to make of you is the best you can possibly be. Don't listen to the voices that may say, 'It can't be done.'

That's the power of the clay.