The
process of using the potter’s wheel is one of
the most fascinating as well as meaningful methods
of making a clay vessel. Watching it spin around and
change shape draws us in to understand insights into
this potter’s message in a very visual way.
It is a way that God used to speak to his people then
and it speaks to us today.
How
does a vessel become marred? One of the ways is
for the lump of clay to contain one small harder
resistant area which we will call a “hidden
lump”. Many times it is hidden
deep inside even the otherwise most responsive piece
of clay on the potter’s wheel. As the potters
hands work the process, at some point the “hidden
lump” begins to show in the
wall. At first it shows subtly, but after a while
it begins to hit against the hands of the potter
until a definite wobble develops throughout the
entire vessel. Then at a point without warning the
hidden lump is revealed as the potters hands are
in the process of lifting it into a shape when suddenly
the entire wobbling vessel collapses, destroyed
by the mar.
Hidden
sin in our lives can cause the same effect as a “hidden lump”
in clay. We may have a relationship with the Father,
know Jesus as Savior, and allow the Holy Spirit
to be our teacher, but still think somewhere in
the heart that this one thing is still OK. OK to
do, to know, to participate in, even when we sense
it is not pleasing to God. We deceive ourselves
by thinking, “O that little thing?
How can that affect my serving God? No one knows
about it. It doesn’t show, does it?” While sin can have many names, the fact that it
is “that which separates us from God” makes it sin. Scripture says sin and godly righteousness
can not exist in the same place. Sooner or later
it will be found out. We see how the entire vessel
is affected in a dramatic way. Repentance is not
a one time event. We must come daily to Him to keep
our vessels pure and consistent all the way through
