Day 319, or November the 15th. Get over it and
get on with it. Our thoughts today come from
Romans chapter 9, verse 21. Does not the potter
have the right to make out of the same lump of
clay some pottery for special purposes and some
for common use? And now the big picture surrounding
this verse. As a devoted Jew, Paul mourns over
his fellow countrymen who have rejected the ultimate
gift from God, his Messiah. He even says that
he would accept condemnation in their place if
that were possible. This is a great image of
what Jesus has already done, dying in order to
make possible the redemption of the whole world
back to God. And now today's action step. It
seems to me that the world is made up of two
kinds of people, those who we are glad we are
not like and those who we wish we were like! God
is an amazing God who loves individuality and
who has therefore never made two people the same
when we look to replace our minister or some
other church leader never fall into the trap
of looking for someone the same as the last one
if god had not wanted you to have someone different
he would have arranged for the current one to
stay looking around your congregation, you will
see a sea of different people god loves variety
it's these thoughts that are in Paul's mind when
he ponders the ridiculous idea of an item of
pottery questioning the potter over why it was
made as it was. Yet we do the same with God very
often. If only I could do... If only I was like...
We are what we are. Tall, short, extrovert, introvert.
I believe it's only when we fully accept this
reality that God can use us. He doesn't make
mistakes. He leaves that to you and me. As of
today, why not thank God for what and who you
are, irrespective of the good and bad influences
others may have been to you in the past? God
loves you unconditionally. Of course you can
argue like the pottery did with the potter, but
it will be to no avail. When we accept we are
far from perfect, that's when God can perfectly
use us.