BUT BY HIS GRACE...I AM WHAT I AM

GOOD MORNING!

 1Co 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which [was bestowed] upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Like a lump of clay, I sit on a Potter's wheel. Helpless and unable to take shape or form, to know up from down, right or wrong. Then a GREAT AWAKENING begins, I begin to hear, "What I have ears!"...the wheel begins to turn...I begin to see.."What! I have eyes." Still helpless and worth absolutly nothing, I cannot move... I cannot form myself or shape  myself... I have ideas...ooooh I have ideas of what I would like to be...If I could just...oooh just make my clay go this way...or not...how about it going that way.

I have no arms or legs, no abilities...and then I feel the Master Potter's Hands, ooh what is He doing, ouch...oooo no that is not in MY plan...what is He doing....uugggh He is squeezing me, eeeekkkk, He is molding me...oooohh Sir, not that way...oooh Sir can I make a suggestion...NO...please lets go out not up...really aaawweee, thats not what I wanted.

Then, He puts me down and walks away...wait a minute, I say, where you going, you cant leave me like this!!! I now see others around me...aaaahhh look I want to be like that one....eeewwweee I sure hope I am not like that one over there....Why does it seem no one is really completed, polished, finished...ooooh the ones that are finished are in a beautiful glass case, with pearly gates...they look real nice!

He is back, ok maybe He will listen to me now...let me give Him my wish list...

Arent we alot like a lump of clay. We are funny people, always wanting to "tell" God, "direct" God, "control" God. Wanting to take "credit" for who we are and what we have become. Look what I am, Look who I am, Look what I have done with myself...ummmm...Can a lump of clay do anything in and of itself?

Walking with God is a lifetime journey of realizing we are so helpless, we are a lump of clay with a brain! We think we are so much more than what we really are. We are but a speck in the grand universe and we are so bossy and demanding, self absorbed, self righteous, and self reliant. Self reliant, how in the world can we rely on ourselves, we are helpless...but not hopeless, Amen!

The Potter begins to shape and mold me, its not comfortable, its not exactly what I thought I wanted. Sometimes I am not sure if He knows what He wants, He shapes me and just when I think He is done, He sprinkles more water and starts to reshape. Its like He keeps seeing a greater master piece in His work in me and keeps adding and shaping some more. I wonder if He will ever be done?

Then there are times...I say "OOH NO" "What does He have in His hand, Is that a knife!!" He cuts some clay away, He adds some clay...ooohhh I dont like this very much...just smash me and get it over with, I cannot bear the pain, the agony, the ugliness of this process any longer!

I have come to see, there is nothing that I am, know, understand, that hasnt been given to me by my Master. There were times I wished I was like someone else, or that someone else looked like me or even better. I have gone through hard times of molding and shaping to get where I am today. God has shown me others have gotten where they are today the same way. Did you know you are just like me? Just a lump of clay!

God wants to make us into useful vessels that are fit for His Kingdom. To often, we want to be useful vessels for our own kingdom...isnt that true. Sometimes its hard to accept we arent what we liked to be...and there is always someone more useful and there is always someone not as useful...but the truth comes down to the only way any of us, are of any use at all, is because of the Potter.

Sometimes we can get discouraged...jealous...bitter...demanding that the Potter just isnt working to His potential in us or others and we wonder, Why. (there we go again, telling the Potter what we think)  When we take our eyes off the Potter we see ourselves and we see others for the good, bad, and ugly. When we gaze into the Potter's eyes, and TRUST his HANDS to mold, shape, direct and guide us individually...we fall in love...we become thankful for His love towards us personally and we are so grateful that He even decided to pick up our lump of clay and begin His work on us.

We still could be sitting on a shelf...never to have AWAKENED to the need of being changed or molded at all. Yet all that I am, all that I ever will be, I owe it all to thee! Lord help us to gaze into your loveliness, help us to worship YOU, help us to be seeking you. Help us, Master Potter...to embrace your work with gratefulness and to yield to the use you created us to do. With our eyes on YOU...I am what I am...but by God's grace go I!

A work in progress we all are...we didnt ask for the style vessel we have...physically or spiritually...we are just to be obedient to be useful for the Master's plan for us individually, Amen!

May I add, looking back...seeing where I am today...hoping where I will be in the future...I wouldnt change a thing...in all of my ugliness, my helplessness, my continue need to be shaped, cut, molded...I wouldnt change a thing...I have learned to gaze into the Potters eyes and all I see is HIM.

That is why we are on a wheel as He works on us...its just me and Him...He gets His way all the time...and I have learned He can see things in me that I cannot. So I have trusted He choices...He is my best friend, He looks out for me and He is constantly removing rough edges, smoothing over the bubbly warts that form and adds water when I am dry. It is but by His Grace...that I am what I am today.

Then one day will come, where I too will be placed in the showcase of all of His beautiful shiny master pieces...I will enter into the pearly gates as well...a master piece in progress until the day of my perfection...I will have gone from one shelf of helplessness being a lump of clay...to another shelf of hopefulness, shiny, beautiful, polished for all eternity.

YOU ARE POSITIONED BY GOD AND A HIGHLY FAVORED LUMP OF CLAY!!!