That’s where I get it

Our hope and prayer today is that the Lord has used you for His purpose this week. In reality, we are just empty vessels until He fills us. I wanted to share something special with you. My dad, Lloyd Borden, is A Missions Director for the Lookout Mountain Baptist Association and he sends out a newsletter every month to let folks know of progress, plans and shares something from the pages of God’s word. I wanted to give you an idea of where I get my penchant for writing. Let’s see what brother Lloyd has to say…

Earthen Vessels

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2 Corinthians 4:7)”

This verse of scripture has long been a favorite of mine and I have tried over the years to give devotions from it, but have never been able to fully bring ot all the vast richness it contains. So please bear with me as I take a word by word approach to this precious verse.

1.  That’s us, Christians.  The Saved.  The Redeemed . Those who have had an experience of Grace.  Members of the family of God.  No one else.  Certainly not the lost world.

    HAVE.  We have.  We hold.  We possess.  It’s inside us.  We are engrained with.  It’s part of our being.  It’s contained.  We can’t lose it.  We’re eternally inseparable from it.

    THIS TREASURE.  Simply, it’s Christ in us, but it manifests its self in many ways to those around us.  It’s the anointing and presence of He, the Holy Spirit.  It’s light.  It’s peace.  It’s calmness in the midst of the storm.   It’s hope when no hope is in sight.  It’s love for the unlovable.  It’s concern for the hungry, the cold, and the fatherless.  It’s being a neighbor to a stranger who is ten thousand miles away.  It’s the gift of service. The gift of sharing the gospel.  It’s excellency. It’s power.  And it can’t be bought.  And it can’t be lost.  It’s an eternal gift.

    IN EARTHEN VESSELS.   When we were saved nothing about our mortal body changed.  It was dust and it still is.  You could say it was mud and it still is.  Nothing about us contributes to or is even vaguely in harmony with the goodness of God.  The TREASURE and the EARTHEN VESSELS don’t match.  It doesn’t make sense the two co-exist.  Why would anyone put anything so indefinitely good into something that is so bad?

    THAT THE EXCELLENCY OF THE POWER MAY BE OF GOD.  Those around us should surely know that the good that is in us, the treasure, had to come from God.  Our weakness, our sinfulness, our inability to raise our self from our lost state.  Producing the fruits of the Holy Spirit is far beyond our capabilities.  It has to be of Him.  The excellency, the power, the light, the joy.

    AND NOT OF US.  No…Never of us…just by His grace and mercy.

That’s my dad. I sure am thankful for him. He is just another vessel the Lord is using.

God bless you,

BroAdamB