Being an Earthen Vessel Can Be Frustrating!

Posted: 11 Jun 2009 09:00 PM PDT

2 Cor 4:7-15 / Mt 5:27-32

In case we ever get tempted to start believing our own press releases, a healthy corrective is ready at hand for every one of us: Make an honest list of just a single day’s worth of your own mistakes and failures. A typical list might read something like this: Lost the car keys and then lost my temper. Left home late, got a speeding ticket, and lost my temper. Read the financial page, noted my losses resulting from impulsive choices, and lost my temper. Had a three martini lunch, missed a key appointment, and lost my temper. And so on.

It’s not a gross record, but it certainly is a stupid one, and it surely confirms St Paul’s words about our being “earthen vessels.” We fall so short of who we aspire to be as followers of Jesus, and we fall short so often that we are ready victims for discouragement and even despair.

When that dark mood seems about to set in, we need to remember that the One who made us knows full well how we are made, how we struggle, and the limited tools we have to work with. He became one of us, not to get the goods on us, but to draw us out of the morass in which we flounder and take us unto himself. As he has told us over and over, he knows how to be a very good father.

Trust our good father and never give up, never cease to hope. Perfection is not God’s expectation of us. Persistence is!