“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7, NKJV.
“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” This cliché is probably familiar to most of us and like most cliché’s needs little explanation; however, for the sake of this writing, I would like to dig a little deeper.
When a friend visited me recently, we sat around my dining room table as we chatted. The conversation drifted onto the Scripture verse in 2 Corinthians as my friend used the design of the table to expand on the meaning of the passage. You see, my dining room table is unique. The craftsman who designed the table thought to create it as three large layers of glass. With a tool and delicate, yet deliberate force striking the middle layer of glass, the impact caused only that layer of glass to shatter, being held together by the remaining, intact layers of glass. The result is beautiful! Instead of seeing the table as damaged, the broken glass catches the light, creating prisms of colored sparkles throughout the room.
Like the table, you and I bare the imprint of our Designer. God created human beings with a unique capacity to endure the blows that accompany living in an imperfect world, marred by human sin. Held together by His love and the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, our brokenness reflects the beauty of God’s presence.
My table did not simply appear one day out of nowhere; it was created with much foresight by the craftsman who had its design in mind. Friend, you are not an accident or a “thought in hindsight.” God knew you before you were conceived (Psalm 139). An “earthen vessel,” like glass, is vulnerable to the elements, but in the hands of a craftsman the treasures of possibilities are endless. Let the Light of Jesus shine through you.