DAILY WORD

So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel.

The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand,

and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

– Jeremiah 18:3-4

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At some point in our spiritual journey, we all have to make the trip down to the potter’s house. The potter’s house is the place of FORMATION and REFORMATION. It is the place where things are CREATED and RECREATED.

Jeremiah’s vision is of a potter working with the clay. The vessel the potter was making has been spoiled; it has been marred and damaged. The potter realizes that the vessel would not be able to fulfill its purpose. And so he reworks the clay into another vessel. He doesn’t simply try to fix the first vessel; he doesn’t simply patch things up in hopes that everything will somehow work out. Instead, he creates an entirely new vessel.

The prophetic vision in context is referring to the restoration and redemption of the people of Israel. But it also serves as a foreshadowing of the work Christ. We are the spoiled clay, the marred and damaged clay. Left as we are we would be unable to fulfill our purpose and destiny, because of our sin and brokenness. But through Christ, God works us into another vessel. “If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation - there is a new vessel - the old has past, behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

God didn’t simply try to fix us. He didn’t simply make do with what he had and hope things would work out. Instead, he saw our brokenness; he saw the damage that had occurred as the result of sin and decided to make a whole new vessel - one that would be able to fulfill its purpose. And what is that purpose? - To be a vessel of honor and glory, to be a vessel of the presence of God.

And so this prophetic vision is a picture of what God is doing in each one of us. Our Christian journey is the story of the potter’s wheel, the story of formation and re-formation, the story of creation and new creation, the story of Jesus and his love.

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