We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT
I think of this verse every spring when I go looking for new pots for flowers. The red simple clay pots are the least expensive. Jars of clay are fragile, cheap, and easily broken. They are a very apt representation of our human weaknesses, and flaws. When we gather an entire community of “clay pots,” we have the messy reality of the Church. The good news is that God does not require a perfect vessel to fill. He takes us as fragile, imperfect people and deposits the ultimate treasure inside of us. Yet, God does not wait for a perfect vessel before filling it. He places the ultimate treasure – His love and power through the Holy Spirit – inside of us. When His Church accomplishes God’s good purpose despite its obvious imperfections, it proves to the world that the power comes from God alone.
The Church is imperfect because it is composed of broken, imperfect people. All the way through time, beginning with the very early first Church, leaders and groups have caused hurt, disappointment, and failure. Every group of believers must struggle with pride, arguments, and divisiveness. People in the Church make mistakes, judge and criticize others, and fail to love well. But God still uses it to show His hope, love, and healing to a very hurting world.
God has great confidence in ordinary people, simple pots of clay, who have chosen to follow Jesus and build His Church. He empowers us through the Holy Spirit to use our minds, hands, and feet to feed the hungry, comfort the sad, and enable them to live in the joy of the gospel. The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts that equip us to maximize what we can do in His name.
And there’s another way God uses His imperfect Church. When we choose to deeply love each other more than our own opinions and points of view, when we choose to keep the main thing the main thing, God will grow us, using even the friction of our sometimes slightly messy communities. We become more like Jesus.
- God, thank You for choosing to work through imperfect people. Forgive us for the wounds we have given others in our weaknesses. Help me give grace to my church family as You have extended grace to me. Help us choose to let Your power be made perfect in our weaknesses. Use our church community to shape us, humble us, and share Your hope with a hurting world. Make us more like Jesus. Start with me.