Are You Moldable?

Does a clay pot ever argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, "Stop, you are doing it wrong!" Does the pot exclaim, "How clumsy you can be!" Isaiah 45:9b

The most notable thing about clay is that it's moldable, perfect for making something useful. It can be pulled, pushed, squeezed, squished, shaped, broken, formed, reformed, added to and subtracted from until the person working with it is satisfied with the results.

In Jeremiah 18, God likens Himself to a potter. He tells Jeremiah, the prophet, to go to the potters house and watch him work. When he goes, Jeremiah notes that the pot the potter was making on the wheel was marred in his hands, so he formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Speaking about the nation of Israel in this passage of Scripture, God tells Jeremiah, "Like clay in the hand of a potter, so are you in my hand." And He goes on to detail that since He's the Creator, the Potter, He's the One with ultimate authority and sovereignty in our lives. If we're pleasing to Him, He'll continue shaping us into something useful and good. If we're not, if we're marred by sin and are losing our moldability, He has the right to inflict disaster on the work in progress and either destroy it or remake it into something of value.

So, what makes us pleasing to God and keeps us moldable? The Bible says it's a repentant heart. In this same Jeremiah 18 passage, in verse 7, God says, "If, at any time, I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned." Again, in Psalm 51:17, David says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

A repentant heart is one that not only acknowledges its sin and sinfulness but turns away from it and walks in a righteous manner, sinning no more. A broken and contrite heart is one that recognizes that sin is always an act of disobedience against God and His will in our lives. It's a heart that is so sorrowful over this grievance against the One who made it that it strives to change its direction and walk in obedience.

God recognizes that we are weak and born with a nature bent toward sin. He says He knows our frame is as dust and easily marred by the sins we commit. He knows we have no power against our own sinful nature. So, He sent a remedy for sin, a Savior, His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sin with His death on the cross, but His sinless life and resurrection from the dead provide a way of redemption for the repentant heart, a supernatural power to live inside us, giving us a way of escape from sin and the strength to resist its draw.

When we place our faith in Christ and submit ourselves to the will of God, this supernatural power, God's Holy Spirit, takes up residence in our hearts. Christ's power over sin becomes ours. James 4:7 tells us the steps to take to use this power: Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Submitting ourselves to God means that we surrender our wills to His will and to the way He wants us to think, speak and act. When we're surrendered to God, we want His will more than our own desires and agenda. So, say, we're tempted to sin by giving in to self-pity, bitterness or an anger that consumes us in distressing circumstances or by not showing love, caring or forgiveness or by trying to press our own advantage over someone else. Instead of simply giving in to those feelings, we can ask God for the patience, love, grace, humility, acceptance or peacefulness we need in the situation, and He'll supply what we dont have. Say we're tempted to lust or covet, hate, steal or cheat. God living inside us is greater than those things. We ask Him for the strength to resist and submit ourselves to thinking on the things He's told us to fill our minds with -- things that are pure, lovely, honest, just and of good reputation. When we step out in faith doing the right thing and resisting the draw to do evil, God supplies the strength to keep going and follow through in righteousness.

In that way, we stay moldable to the intentions of God, our Potter, and He continues to shape and mold us into vessels fit for His use and fit to hold His transforming glory for all the world to see.

What about you? Are you a vessel on the road to disaster and destruction or do you have a repentant heart and can yet be molded into something useful for God's glory? Make no mistake, as the Potter, He's aware of each life, the purpose He made it to have and whether we're fulfilling that. And someday, we'll each stand before Him to give an account. On that day, He'll be Potter no more, but Righteous Judge.

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