Isa. 64:8 "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou the potter; and we are all are the work of thy hand." Sept. 12, 2007
Isaiah brings out a good point in this verse, he reminds the children of Israel that God is the creator and they the creation. We would do well to be reminded of this fact on a daily basis, to have our memory refreshed and our pride crushed under the weight of the knowledge that we have no "rights" when facing God. Paul says it best in Rom. 9:20, 21 where he says "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the the clay; of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" When we come to Christ, we have no chips to bargain with, we have no right to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Isaiah says in the sixth verse of our text chapter, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags", so clearly we can not store up enough good works to out weigh the bad ones, because even our righteousness is as filthy rags.
I love America, I am fiercly patriotic, and I would gladly die to preserve the rights we have in this country. That being said, I am afraid that all the rights we have in this country have created an attitude that we have rights in every other aspect of life as well, and that is a misconception. You have a civil right to speak your mind, but a christian ought to forfeit that right if speaking his mind would offend a brother or cause shame to come on the name of Christ or his church. Before a judge we are innocent until proven guilty, and if proven guilty, good behavior can reduce your sentence. We enjoy no such luxury when standing before God, we are born guilty and no good deeds can reduce the sentence of eternal damnation.
This would drive many to cry "What then can be done for my soul?" It is here that the beauty of it all comes in, the creator, the one who has every right to life, the one who has every bit of innocence, can take on the form of the creation. The potter makes himself a vessel, the inventor takes on the attributes of the invention, and somehow the innocent takes all the punishment of the guilty, the one with all rights to life, dies. Is this fair? No, if fair prevailed we would all be in hell, but God so loved the world that he did the unfair thing and took the punishment on himself, through his son Jesus Christ.
With all this in mind, why do we think we deserve anything from God? What pride drives us to think we are worthy of his love? How could we stand before him and be justified by all our filthy rags (aka good works)? We ought to gladly throw down our rights, after all didn't Christ? We ought to gladly submit to the unfair and uncomfortable, after all didn't Christ? We ought to be willing to be used however God can best use us, after all we are the vessels, he is the potter, creator, inventor, and master.
Isaiah brings out a good point in this verse, he reminds the children of Israel that God is the creator and they the creation. We would do well to be reminded of this fact on a daily basis, to have our memory refreshed and our pride crushed under the weight of the knowledge that we have no "rights" when facing God. Paul says it best in Rom. 9:20, 21 where he says "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the the clay; of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" When we come to Christ, we have no chips to bargain with, we have no right to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Isaiah says in the sixth verse of our text chapter, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags", so clearly we can not store up enough good works to out weigh the bad ones, because even our righteousness is as filthy rags.
I love America, I am fiercly patriotic, and I would gladly die to preserve the rights we have in this country. That being said, I am afraid that all the rights we have in this country have created an attitude that we have rights in every other aspect of life as well, and that is a misconception. You have a civil right to speak your mind, but a christian ought to forfeit that right if speaking his mind would offend a brother or cause shame to come on the name of Christ or his church. Before a judge we are innocent until proven guilty, and if proven guilty, good behavior can reduce your sentence. We enjoy no such luxury when standing before God, we are born guilty and no good deeds can reduce the sentence of eternal damnation.
This would drive many to cry "What then can be done for my soul?" It is here that the beauty of it all comes in, the creator, the one who has every right to life, the one who has every bit of innocence, can take on the form of the creation. The potter makes himself a vessel, the inventor takes on the attributes of the invention, and somehow the innocent takes all the punishment of the guilty, the one with all rights to life, dies. Is this fair? No, if fair prevailed we would all be in hell, but God so loved the world that he did the unfair thing and took the punishment on himself, through his son Jesus Christ.
With all this in mind, why do we think we deserve anything from God? What pride drives us to think we are worthy of his love? How could we stand before him and be justified by all our filthy rags (aka good works)? We ought to gladly throw down our rights, after all didn't Christ? We ought to gladly submit to the unfair and uncomfortable, after all didn't Christ? We ought to be willing to be used however God can best use us, after all we are the vessels, he is the potter, creator, inventor, and master.
Okay, this is great...keep it up... thanks for the reminder...
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