People are really God's blueprints for a better tomorrow.
2 Corinthians 4
New International Version (NIV)
An accident, waiting to happen.
But, it was the 'waiting to happen' part in that Twitter description that intrigued me the most in this statement.
What are we waiting for?
And, what's going to happen?
The first thing that came to my mind as I looked at that phrase was the idea of 'going somewhere'.
Or, 'making something happen'.
Or even, 'becoming somebody'.
Country music legend Travis Tritt has an old song, "I'm Gonna Be Somebody".
Definition of ACCIDENT
1a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance
b : lack of intention or necessity : chance
2a : an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance
b : an unexpected and medically important bodily event especially when injurious -a cerebrovascular accident
c : an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured but for which legal relief may be sought
d —used euphemistically to refer to an involuntary act or instance of urination or defecation
3: a nonessential property or quality of an entity or circumstance
God doesn't think any of us are an 'accident'.
Jeremiah 1:4-5
New International Version (NIV)
The Call of Jeremiah
Many of us probably feel like the title of today's blog
entry would be a fitting description of our lives.
And not in a good way.
If you are prone to accidents, hurting yourself, cutting yourself, running into things, dropping things and what not, then you might feel like that phrase is all about you.
Over on Twitter, a nice UM lady out of Alabama that I decided to follow uses this phrase in the description of herself.
(You get 140 characters to write some sort of line about yourself for others to get to know you.)
She put here,
And not in a good way.
If you are prone to accidents, hurting yourself, cutting yourself, running into things, dropping things and what not, then you might feel like that phrase is all about you.
Over on Twitter, a nice UM lady out of Alabama that I decided to follow uses this phrase in the description of herself.
(You get 140 characters to write some sort of line about yourself for others to get to know you.)
She put here,
An ordinary radical that's also an accident waiting to
happen...I mean that in the best way, of course.
How do you "mean that in the best way"?
That phrase has so many negative connotations to it.
And, historically, if someone is a screw up in life, you might tag them with that line.
But, as soon as I read her self-description I went into Christian terminology mode and wondered how I could use that line for one of my blog entries.
Accident waiting to happen....mean that in the best way.
The Apostle Paul would use the term "jars of clay" to describe our frailness in 2 Corinthians 4.
My wife and I read this passage last night for our devotions before turning in for the night.
That phrase has so many negative connotations to it.
And, historically, if someone is a screw up in life, you might tag them with that line.
But, as soon as I read her self-description I went into Christian terminology mode and wondered how I could use that line for one of my blog entries.
Accident waiting to happen....mean that in the best way.
The Apostle Paul would use the term "jars of clay" to describe our frailness in 2 Corinthians 4.
My wife and I read this passage last night for our devotions before turning in for the night.
2 Corinthians 4
New International Version (NIV)
7 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 also be
revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but
life is at work in you.
What happens if you drop the jar of clay?
Obviously, it breaks, it smashes, and it is done.
Sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
Paul just knew how to take an illustration like this and turn it into something awesome for the Lord.
Many of us probably feel inside like the connotations that go with such a description.
We feel inadequate.
We feel downtrodden.
We feel frail, weak, and wimpy.
And, Paul goes straight to it and says, "That's what we are."
As Paul enters in to what we know as the 4th Chapter of 2nd Corinthians, he begins to talk about all the work they had been doing in their midst.
How hard it was, the struggles they endured.
He talks about the devil, the 'god of this world', who has worked to blind the world from the truth.
A simple 'jar of clay' has a lot to endure, running the risk of being broken or smashed.
Obviously, it breaks, it smashes, and it is done.
Sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
Paul just knew how to take an illustration like this and turn it into something awesome for the Lord.
Many of us probably feel inside like the connotations that go with such a description.
We feel inadequate.
We feel downtrodden.
We feel frail, weak, and wimpy.
And, Paul goes straight to it and says, "That's what we are."
As Paul enters in to what we know as the 4th Chapter of 2nd Corinthians, he begins to talk about all the work they had been doing in their midst.
How hard it was, the struggles they endured.
He talks about the devil, the 'god of this world', who has worked to blind the world from the truth.
A simple 'jar of clay' has a lot to endure, running the risk of being broken or smashed.
An accident, waiting to happen.
But, it was the 'waiting to happen' part in that Twitter description that intrigued me the most in this statement.
What are we waiting for?
And, what's going to happen?
The first thing that came to my mind as I looked at that phrase was the idea of 'going somewhere'.
Or, 'making something happen'.
Or even, 'becoming somebody'.
Country music legend Travis Tritt has an old song, "I'm Gonna Be Somebody".
I'm gonna be somebody,
one of these days I'm gonna break these chains
I'm gonna be somebody, someday,
you can bet your hard earned dollar I will
From a purely human standpoint, no one wants to be
overlooked, thought less-of, and made out to be nothing.
From a Godly standpoint, He is the potter, we are the clay.
That had to be going through Paul's mind as he wrote those words to the Corinthians.
and, here is some good OT stuff....
Jeremiah 18
New International Version (NIV)
At the Potter’s House
From a Godly standpoint, He is the potter, we are the clay.
That had to be going through Paul's mind as he wrote those words to the Corinthians.
and, here is some good OT stuff....
Jeremiah 18
New International Version (NIV)
At the Potter’s House
1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.”
3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel.
4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the
potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
The pot that was in his hands was 'marred'.
It was messed up. It was useless.
But, somehow, the potter re-shaped it and made it into something he could use.
It was an accident waiting to happen, in the best way.
Isn't that what God does with us?
It was messed up. It was useless.
But, somehow, the potter re-shaped it and made it into something he could use.
It was an accident waiting to happen, in the best way.
Isn't that what God does with us?
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me. 6 He
said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the LORD.
“Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel.
I haven't looked anything up at Webster's in a while.
Wonder what it says about...
Wonder what it says about...
Definition of ACCIDENT
1a : an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance
b : lack of intention or necessity : chance
2a : an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance
b : an unexpected and medically important bodily event especially when injurious -a cerebrovascular accident
c : an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured but for which legal relief may be sought
d —used euphemistically to refer to an involuntary act or instance of urination or defecation
3: a nonessential property or quality of an entity or circumstance
God doesn't think any of us are an 'accident'.
Jeremiah 1:4-5
New International Version (NIV)
The Call of Jeremiah
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as
a prophet to the nations.”
Maybe he hasn't called you to be a prophet.
He certainly has something in mind for all of us.
And, if you don't have some specific calling on your life, feel the freedom to find whatever you want to do, and do it for Jesus.
Go pump gas in Idaho, and do it for Jesus.
Go deliver ice cream to Walgreen's stores, and do it for Jesus.
You are not an accident.
You might feel like you are at times.
You might feel inferior or insignificant.
God has brought you into this world for His purposes.
And, the sky is the limit.
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” (2 Cor. 4.13)
Paul says that the Corinthians and himself share the same faith.
That one day Jesus will return.
That everything they are going through here, on this earth, is preparation for what is ahead.
"I'm gonna be somebody, someday."
Someday, and it's waiting to happen, Jesus will take us to where he is.
Someday, while we wait, God is going to do something in and with our lives.
It might be the simplest thing.
An opportunity to tell someone about Jesus while talking in the grocery store.
Maybe he'll take you across the ocean as a missionary.
You'll see yourself overcome a spiritual or emotional obstacle in becoming the person you are supposed to be.
God drew up a blueprint, long ago, for each of us and said, "When so & so comes into this world, I want them to be my child, and serve me in this way."
It's not in the purpose of what our vocation is that we find out who we are.
It is in realizing that we are God's child that we ultimately understand that we are not an accident.
We are… waiting to happen.
He certainly has something in mind for all of us.
And, if you don't have some specific calling on your life, feel the freedom to find whatever you want to do, and do it for Jesus.
Go pump gas in Idaho, and do it for Jesus.
Go deliver ice cream to Walgreen's stores, and do it for Jesus.
You are not an accident.
You might feel like you are at times.
You might feel inferior or insignificant.
God has brought you into this world for His purposes.
And, the sky is the limit.
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” (2 Cor. 4.13)
Paul says that the Corinthians and himself share the same faith.
That one day Jesus will return.
That everything they are going through here, on this earth, is preparation for what is ahead.
"I'm gonna be somebody, someday."
Someday, and it's waiting to happen, Jesus will take us to where he is.
Someday, while we wait, God is going to do something in and with our lives.
It might be the simplest thing.
An opportunity to tell someone about Jesus while talking in the grocery store.
Maybe he'll take you across the ocean as a missionary.
You'll see yourself overcome a spiritual or emotional obstacle in becoming the person you are supposed to be.
God drew up a blueprint, long ago, for each of us and said, "When so & so comes into this world, I want them to be my child, and serve me in this way."
It's not in the purpose of what our vocation is that we find out who we are.
It is in realizing that we are God's child that we ultimately understand that we are not an accident.
We are… waiting to happen.
