Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 102 · April 12
Earthen Vessels
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
You are more aware of the cracks in yourself than of anything that might be inside.
Paul had just described what he was carrying: the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Then, in the very next sentence, the container. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. Earthen vessels are cheap fired clay, the throwaway pots of that world, the ones you replaced when they chipped. He gives the reason in the same breath, so nobody has to guess at it. The fragility is doing a job.
Father, I have been asking you to make me a better container, and you have said very little about that.
You put the light of the knowledge of your glory in the face of Jesus Christ inside cheap clay on purpose, so that when anything holds, everyone can see whose power did the holding. Keep me from spending this week apologising for the pot. Let the excellency of the power be of you and not of me, in the places where I look least impressive and feel it most. And where I am chipped, and tired, and obviously not equal to what I am carrying, let somebody see through the crack to what is actually in here. Amen.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 102 is Eyes Set for Good (Jeremiah 24:6).