In our relationship with the Lord and with others, we must remember that we are the clay.  That’s all we are.  We are made out of a lump of clay, Rom 9:21.  We are the clay.

The Lord is the potter, we are the clay, Is 64:8.  You are his workmanship, Eph 2:10.  From the very moment of your salvation, the Lord desires to fashion you into the vessel he desires you to be.  He desires you to be a “vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work”, 2 Tim 2:21.  He desires these three things: Sanctified; Meet for the Master’s use; and Prepared unto every good work.  But many of us are not very cooperative with him.  

Rather than being yielded to his hands on the wheel, many have take their lives in their own hands and tried to run them the way they see best.  They are not conformed to his image; rather they have tried to conform him to their image.  Have you noticed that their statues of him look like men?

Others have striven with their Maker, Is 45:9.  “Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou”?  In the midst of throwing the clay on the potter’s wheel, they have begun to fuss with their Maker.  The process of fashioning the clay can be very painful, particularly if the vessel is marred, Jer 18:4.  Don’t strive with your Maker.  He doeth all things well.

You are not better than others who are clay, Job 33:6.  When Elihu began preaching his sermon to Job, he said, “I also am formed out of the clay”.  His comment is instructive to us.  You are made of clay just like they are.  We are simply “in God’s stead”, like the ambassadors in 2 Cor 5:20.  We are Channels only, blessed Master.  The folks in 1 Cor 1:26-31 are the people God wants to use for his glory.

Others who are clay are not better than you, Job 13:12.  They are made of clay just like you are.  We spend so much time trying to please people.  We can be afraid of them.  Some seek the praise of men more than the praise of God.  Trying to impress them and trying to impress others by our association with them is a waste of time.  They are just clay.  The person to fear and please is the Lord, Job 13:11.  Solomon said, “Favour is deceitful”.

All of this clay will return to the dust one day, Job 10:9.  Gen 3:19, “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”.  Therefore, the eternal is superior to the temporal.  God is much more interested in what happens to your soul than what happens to your body.  In 2 Cor 4:7-10 we have this treasure in earthen vessels.  The more we reckon ourselves dead, the more the life of Christ is manifest in us.  Solomon said, “Beauty is vain”.

Conclusion: We are here for his glory, not ours.  The people who see us should not be impressed with the vessel, but with how great our Maker is.