Jars of Clay

Tuesday, March 08, 2011, 7:26 a.m. – When I woke this morning, this song was playing in my mind:

What a Friend We Have in Jesus / Joseph M. Scriven / Charles C. Converse

What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,
cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield thee;
thou wilt find a solace there.

I sat down on the sofa to have my quiet time with the Lord. I recorded the words to the hymn and meditated over them before the Lord in prayer. I prayed, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening,” and then I read 2 Corinthians 4:7-18:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

13 It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

My Understanding: The treasure being spoken about here that we have in “jars of clay” is in reference to the preceding verses which the Lord had me cover in “The Veil Remains.” In these verses we learned about how, when we turn to the Lord Jesus in repentance and faith, the veil of unbelief is removed by the Spirit of God from our hearts. Then, the Holy Spirit of God comes into the heart and life of the believer in Jesus Christ and brings freedom from the penalty of sin (spiritual death and eternal separation from God in hell) and freedom from the control of and bondage to sin in the believer’s daily life, i.e. what it means to “turn” to the Lord Jesus. Through this newfound freedom in Christ Jesus, we are thus being transformed into Christ’s likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, so that we all can reflect the Lord’s glory through our lives, our characters and our witness for Jesus. Involved in this is renouncing secret and shameful ways, rejecting the use of deception (lies), and refusing to distort the word of God for our own selfish purposes. Instead, we yield control of our lives to the Spirit of God who lives within us so that his glory can be reflected in all that we do, say, and are in thought, deed and character.

Yet, this treasure is contained within “jars of clay,” i.e. our human flesh. Isaiah 64:8 says:

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.

And, Jeremiah 18:5-6 says,

Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the LORD. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”

As humans, we are subject to temptation to sin, to physical and mental limitations, to illness, injury, to yielding to sin, to heartache, pain, and disease, etc. By placing this treasure of faith in Jesus Christ and eternal life in glory with God/Jesus, i.e. the gospel of Jesus Christ within human beings, God is able to show that the glory revealed in and through our lives is not from us, but can only be the outpouring of the Holy Spirit within us. And, this is continually put to the test in our lives through the trials and tribulations we face on a regular basis. What comes out from within us (from our hearts) when we are put under pressure reveals what or who is truly in control of our lives, whether the Spirit of God or the flesh and self. This is not to say that this is an indication of whether or not the Spirit of God is present within us, but it is an indication of who is sitting on the throne (the lord) in our lives and hearts. Our flesh is daily proof, thus, when the righteousness and glory of God shine through our lives, that this all-surpassing power is truly from God and not from us, because we have seen what it looks like when it is us in power and authority over our own lives. I am speaking from personal experience here.

When our flesh is ruling our lives, then when we are put under pressure, what comes forth is flesh – selfishness, anger, bitterness, arguing, idolatry, adultery, etc. Yet, when we are truly dead to self and alive to God in Christ Jesus, our Lord, then when we are hard pressed, perplexed, struck down, etc. we will have a different perspective, i.e. we will see our trials and tribulations in light of eternity, and we will view them not as total defeat but rather as stepping stones of personal growth in the Spirit of God, realizing that we are being blessed to be able to share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in us. I find this to be so true in my own life in that personal suffering draws me much closer to God and to being faithful in my commitment to obey him and to follow him in all my ways and with all my heart and surrender of my will to the will of the Father.

Thus, we do not lose heart when troubles come our way because we realize that they are for the purpose of growing and maturing us in Christ Jesus, in transforming us into the image of Christ, and in revealing Christ’s character in and through us to show that the all-surpassing power of God in our lives comes from God and not from us, i.e. they are to keep us humble and to keep us having the right perspective about life and our own flesh in relation to God’s righteousness and holiness. When we gain that right perspective while going through these difficulties that life often throws our way, then we are able to be renewed inwardly even when we are wasting away outwardly. We realize that these difficulties of life are to transform us into Christ’s likeness so that we can, in Christ Jesus, attain eternal life in heaven with God. So, we choose to not focus our attention upon the trials of this life – pain, sorrow, sickness, mistreatment, rejection, etc. – but we choose, instead, to remain focused upon Jesus Christ and his purposes for our individual lives.

This song, What a Friend we Have in Jesus, was one of my favorites when I was a child and youth. It was then that I truly came to understand the meaning of the words of this song and to apply them to my heart and life as I took my pain, sorrow, sins, persecutions, etc. to the Lord in prayer on a daily basis, and I trusted in his love and comfort. We often forfeit the peace that could be ours because we fail to take to the Lord in prayer the circumstances of our lives and instead think we should be able to manage them ourselves. Oftentimes this ends in anger, frustration, bitterness, disappointment, etc. because we took these situations upon ourselves instead of taking them to Jesus and trusting in him to work in and through them in our lives to accomplish his purposes.

Sometimes, what keeps us from taking our cares and concerns to Jesus in prayer is unconfessed sin in our lives that is hindering our fellowship with the Lord Jesus and/or would keep him from hearing and answering our prayers. If that is the case, then we need to first of all repent of our sin, confessing it where appropriate to anyone we have sinned against, thus opening the doors of fellowship and communication once again with Jesus Christ. Then he can enter into our circumstances and he can fill us with his peace and joy in place of our hurt, anger, discouragement, and disappointment, which were the result of our failure to trust God and our placing of our trust, instead, in the flesh of man.

O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

If you have not already done so, I would encourage you to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ today. Take everything in your life to him in prayer, trusting in Him to work in and through the circumstances of your life for the praise of his glory so that he might be honored by all that you do, say and think as you trust him fully with your life in all things.