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God Is The Potter, We Are His Clay

Sunday, January 4, 2009

God Is The Potter, We Are His Clay

I'm going to jump right into the word today, are you hungry? I am. And not just because I'm on a fast.

Romans 9:1-5
1 I am in Christ, and I am telling you the truth; I do not lie. My conscience is ruled by the Holy Spirit, and it tells me I am not lying. 2 I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness. 3 I wish I could help my Jewish brothers and sisters, my people. I would even wish that I were cursed and cut off from Christ if that would help them. 4 They are the people of Israel, God's chosen children. They have seen the glory of God, and they have the agreements that God made between himself and his people. God gave them the law of Moses and the right way of worship and his promises. 5 They are the descendants of our great ancestors, and they are the earthly family into which Christ was born, who is God over all. Praise him forever! Amen.

I like how Paul says, "My conscience is ruled by the Holy Spirit." That is how we should live, ruled by the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 9:3 Paul wishes that he were cursed and cut off from Christ if that would help his Jewish brothers and sisters. I have been there. I've seen a sister that should not have been lying in a bed in a coma and I prayed for God to take me instead of her who had so much to live for. Yet the Lord's will was that she go home to Him instead of me giving up my right to Christ. That is the loving Father who does what He knows is best.

Romans 9:6-13
6 It is not that God failed to keep his promise to them. But only some of the people of Israel are truly God's people, 7 and only some of Abraham's descendants are true children of Abraham. But God said to Abraham: "The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac." 8 This means that not all of Abraham's descendants are God's true children. Abraham's true children are those who become God's children because of the promise God made to Abraham. 9 God's promise to Abraham was this: "At the right time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." 10 And that is not all. Rebekah's sons had the same father, our father Isaac. 11-12 But before the two boys were born, God told Rebekah, "The older will serve the younger." This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this so that the one chosen would be chosen because of God's own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything he did. 13 As the Scripture says, "I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau."

God never reneges (to go back on a promise or commitment). His promises are always kept. Some thought he reneged because some didn't make it to the promise land. Paul explained that not all of the people were God's true children. So then of course people claimed that God was unfair.

Romans 9:14-18
14 So what should we say about this? Is God unfair? In no way. 15 God said to Moses, "I will show kindness to anyone to whom I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone to whom I want to show mercy." 16 So God will choose the one to whom he decides to show mercy; his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do. 17 The Scripture says to the king of Egypt: "I made you king for this reason: to show my power in you so that my name will be talked about in all the earth." 18 So God shows mercy where he wants to show mercy, and he makes stubborn the people he wants to make stubborn.

Paul says, no way is God unfair. No Way! God is God and He chooses who he pleases. We may think that is unfair. Ever seen someone that has been blessed richly spiritually and you thought they didn't deserve it? Well, we are not God. That can be a hard one to grasp. Romans 9:16 says God's chooses the one not because of what they want or try to do. Remember, God can make the rocks cry out in worship to Him. God uses the weak to humble the proud so that God's name will be talked about in all the earth.

Romans 9:18 caught me funny. God make stubborn the people he wants to make stubborn. How funny is that? So you know those stubborn people you know...God made them that way. I guess we should praise God for making those people stubborn because that is His will. Stubborn people try our patience and we have learned that patience produces good in us. Romans 5:4.

Romans 9:19-21
19 So one of you will ask me: "Then why does God blame us for our sins? Who can fight his will?" 20 You are only human, and human beings have no right to question God. An object should not ask the person who made it, "Why did you make me like this?" 21 The potter can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use.

Questioned God lately? I have in a way. I mean, isn't that the human way? WHY GOD, WHY!? We are God's masterpiece, we should not ask the Master why he made us or someone else the way we our they are. God is the potter, we are the clay. He molds us into what is useful to Him. If we are to be great ministers of the Word, He will make us that. If we are to be prayer warriors, He will make us that. He will make us into what He wants, not always what we want. We should accept that and praise Him fro what He has made us.

Romans 9:22-29
22 It is the same way with God. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently stayed with those people he was angry with-people who were made ready to be destroyed. 23 He waited with patience so that he could make known his rich glory to the people who receive his mercy. He has prepared these people to have his glory, 24 and we are those people whom God called. He called us not from the Jews only but also from those who are not Jews. 25 As the Scripture says in Hosea:
"I will say, 'You are my people'
to those I had called 'not my people.'
And I will show my love
to those people I did not love." - Hosea 2:1, 23
26 "They were called,
'You are not my people,'
but later they will be called
'children of the living God.' " - Hosea 1:10
27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel:
"The people of Israel are many,
like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be saved,
28 because the Lord will quickly and completely punish the people on the earth." - Isaiah 10:22-23
29 It is as Isaiah said:
"The Lord All-Powerful
allowed a few of our descendants to live.
Otherwise we would have been completely destroyed
like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah." - Isaiah 1:9

Do you see that God in the same way wanted to show people His anger, but He stayed with those people He was angry with, people who were ready to be destroyed. He had patience with them so He could show His glory through His mercy. I'm learning her, how about you? I'm learning how to deal with difficult people and understand why they are the way they are.

Romans 9:30-33
30 So what does all this mean? Those who are not Jews were not trying to make themselves right with God, but they were made right with God because of their faith. 31 The people of Israel tried to follow a law to make themselves right with God. But they did not succeed, 32 because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did instead of trusting in God to make them right. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble. 33 As it is written in the Scripture:
"I will put in Jerusalem a stone that causes people to stumble,
a rock that makes them fall.
Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed."
- Isaiah 8:14; 28:16

The people of Israel tried to make themselves right by following the law, but they did not succeed. Why would we think we could? We can only be made right with God by our faith in what Christ did for us. Trust in Christ, not yourself.

Can you feel the Potters hands molding you today. Trust Him to make you into a beautiful piece of art that only He can make you into. Don't ask Him why you are the way you are, just trust Him, He is your Father.

In God's Love,
GFCC Brother

posted: 01/04/2009 05:26am by gfccbrother View: Backlinks, Permalink Total Views: 356 ShortURL: http://christianblog.com/d58f Category: Devotionals	Print This Blog Entry
Blog Tags: abraham, children, christ, mercy, romans, stubborn,
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