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Our lives, as Followers of Christ, and Children of God, if they are given up and over to God, are being constantly fashioned into an ever useful and purposeful vessel by the inward working and presence of the Holy Spirit. It is not by mistake that our very lives are referred to as clay. Clay gathered up into a small mass is basically a lump of a mixture of elements such as soil, minerals, and inorganic and organic materials. A lump of clay to be used for a vessel, must first be pressed down and worked by the potter’s hands to soften its structure, before it is ever thrown on a potter’s wheel to be fashioned into a intended vessel. Once the softened clay is placed on the potter’s wheel, it is formed and molded by a spinning motion along with moisture, tools and the potter’s hands and fingers into the vessel with design and purpose.
God on the other hand, is referred to as being the Potter. Thus our lives, being like clay, remain and retain a certain lumpiness, when they are not yielded up to the Potter to be fashioned into a Vessel of purpose, and pleasing design reflecting His workmanship. In order to be the vessel, He wants us to be, we must be remade into the image of Christ by yielding to the Holy Spirit. We retain a natural lumpiness, when we live selfishly and without regard to God’s ways and fail to soften our minds and hearts to be first pressed down before placing our very souls on the Great Potter’s wheel to smooth out our emotions, wills and personalities into His purpose for our lives. It is only in this lifetime of releasing ourselves into the hands of God, that we can be made into the masterpiece, God desires us to become.
But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay and You are the Potter and we are the work of Your hand (Isaiah 64:8, NKJV).