Encouragement For A Repentant ChurchShembull

Jars of Clay

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Jars of clay: That suggests frailty, vulnerability, weakness, brokenness, and humanness. God does not use us in spite of our weakness; God uses us because of our weakness. 

In our weakness, God gets all the glory. God gets all the glory because it’s obvious that the power comes from God. The power doesn’t come from the broken, dirty jars of clay. 

In our weakness, we recognize our complete dependence on God. We are poor in spirit, desperate, humble, and dependent. God can use people like this, people who recognize how much they need God.

Hudson Taylor, a man used so powerfully by God to bring the gospel to China, shares the story in Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret of a conversation he had with a church leader in Scotland. The leader says, “You must sometimes be tempted to be proud because of the wonderful way God has used you. I doubt if any man living has had greater honour.” 

“On the contrary,” was Taylor’s earnest reply, “I often think that God must have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to use, and that He found me.” 

God does not use us in spite of our weakness, but because of our weakness.