Our theme for this month: “The Gift of Being Yourself”
Our Bible verse for today: “Yet Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are our potter, we all are the work of your hands.” Isaiah 64:8 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “Allow God to mold you and shape you into the person He wants you to be.”
The metaphor of a potter and the clay is used numerous times in the Bible to help us understand that God shapes us and forms us into the individuals He wants us to be. Our first hint of this is found in Genesis chapter two when we read of God creating Adam out of the dust of the ground. In Jeremiah chapter eighteen God takes Jeremiah on a field trip to the workshop of a potter so he can see the craftsman molding and shaping the vessel into the form he wants it to be, and God then uses it as an object lesson for how He deals with us.
The prophet Isaiah also used the metaphor several times, as did the Apostle Paul. In fact in Romans chapter nine Paul challenges his readers to consider whether or not the clay has any right to say to the potter “Why did you make me this way?” And then of course in Psalm 139:13-16 we read that beautiful description of a loving Creator tenderly and intricately weaving together the physical body of the Psalmist in his mother’s womb.
We commonly think of the potter and clay metaphor with respect to our physical bodies, but the more important application is spiritual. As a potter molds the physical clay into the form he wants it to take, so too God molds and shapes us spiritually into the people He wants us to be.
This is an important understanding when it comes to accepting who you are, and becoming increasingly comfortable in your own skin. God is in the process of molding and shaping you spiritually.
I have always admired those Christians who have matured spiritually to the point that they are quietly confident in their identity in Christ. They have nothing to prove. They are settled, serene, confident, and joyful. This comes from the practice Eugene Peterson once described as “a long obedience in the same direction.” In other words, day-in and day-out you consistently do the things that place you in a position before God so that He can mold you and shape you into the person He wants you to be.
Tomorrow we will think more about how to accomplish this. In the meantime I encourage you to spend some time with God thanking Him for who you already are, and for the person you are becoming.
Oak Hill Baptist Church