In Perspective

‘But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires’ Jer.18:12.

In today’s scripture reference, these people had made up their minds that they will be hardened clay. Have you ever seen or heard of a potter work with hardened clay [set clay]? It is not possible. The potter will have to break the piece to work with it. It is like someone who says, ‘I am an adult, I can make up my own mind, what I want to do is what I want to do. Nobody should tell me what to do. I am not a baby. I am a full-grown man/woman’. Yes we know that; but that means you are not a piece to be worked with or improved upon. You can’t become a fulfillment of the Potter’s beauty, creation, or perfection because you have chosen to be hardened. We will not be hardened in Jesus Name. We have to stay soft, moldable, moist, and responsive to the Holy Spirit, sensitive to the Word, and the Presence of God. You may not know when this hardness begins but many of us can tell the signs. A few of the signs of hardness are; when it is difficult for you to listen to or obey those who you easily used to submit to. It is when the choir is singing in church and what you are focused on is the verse they have repeated five times. So you are counting? I will tell you this and I hope you understand it; God really is not interested in new songs because He is God, the All Knowing God. But the worship song we sing is a vehicle that transports the state of our hearts to God. So it’s about the state of your heart and how the music moves your heart in worship. So if you are hardened, the music will be uncomfortable for you. But if your heart is tender, you will be able to release your praise and your worship effortlessly to the Almighty God. It is when compassion leaves our lives, when we are not sensitive to the needs of other people. It is when someone is telling you a problem and instead of being your former empathic self, you are wondering when the person will finish or if he combed his hair. That is when hardness has sipped in. It is when the simplicity of God and our relationship with Him seems too boring and we want to complicate things a bit. We want a little bit of excitement.  Meanwhile in the past we could just spend time praising God.

Prayer: Father, please create in me a clean heart and renew the right spirit within me so that I will not be cast out of Your presence, in Jesus Name.