For the months of May through July, we’re exploring God’s handiwork in our lives. We are meditating these few weeks on God as our Potter and us as His handiwork. Today’s third devotion follows up on last week’s focus on God’s shaping and offers us a soothing balm for when we face trials that transform our character:

IN WORD – Repentance is a much-maligned word. It sounds so hard and painful, even condemning. Those connotations don’t go over well in a laid-back, life’s-a-beach culture of tolerance like ours. Repentance implies that something is wrong with us and we’re going to have to deny ourselves something we treasure in order to change. That’s a biblical truth we don’t enjoy memorizing.
Maybe it would help us to think about repentance in terms of clay. Clay that has lost its moisture, that is hardening and no longer pliable, is unrepentant clay. If that thickening process isn’t too far along, the Potter can add some water and soften it up. But if the clay is too dry and stiff, there’s nothing to be done. It has to be tossed out.
Based on that illustration, repentance sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it? It is a matter of regaining pliability in order to be useful to the Master Artist. David demonstrated it when Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba, and Nineveh demonstrated it when its citizens repented after Jonah’s prophecy of destruction. In both cases, the Potter was merciful and the clay became useful again. Repentance was a very worthwhile event.
IN DEED – Our Potter’s grand design depends on the malleability of His clay. If we are too stiff and unyielding, God has no compassionate alternative to informing us of our impending uselessness—the disaster the prophets proclaimed. If we accept the warning, however, we become soft and easy to reshape, and the Potter enjoys us again. He always has a good plan for clay that bends. Are there any areas in which your heart needs to bend? Yes, it sounds painful, but the alternative is far worse. Softening the substance of your life makes the Potter delightfully willing to make something beautiful. His blessings come to those who bend. “One of the first things for which we have to pray is a true insight into our condition.” – Olive Wyon (in “Worship the King” by Chris Tiegreen)

Being shaped by God can be painful at times, especially if we have hardened our hearts to Him (it’s a lot easier for God to shape us if our hearts and minds are pliable to His work!). But God is more interested in building our character and bringing out the best in us than in our comfort. He has eternal plans for us that go beyond retirement in this world.
Take time to reflect on Psalm 139 this week. Ask yourself what your life goals are and how they compare to God’s goals for you. If your goals hit below God’s standard, ask the Holy Spirit to help you expand your perspective to eternity rather than your years left in this world. Have a blessed week! – from Seattle, Pastor Sam