For God, who said, "Let there be light in the darkness, " has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
The contrast is clear. The indescribable value of the gospel treasure, indeed the very glory of God, is held within and entrusted to beings that are plain and ordinary - you and me. The contrast, it seems to me, is not because God holds us in low esteem, but rather because the light itself is of inestimable worth.
Did any of you NIV readers pick up the new word in the NLT translation? Not only are we jars of clay, a la the NIV, we are fragile clay jars in the NLT. I like it. Not only are we rather ordinary in contrast to the light of Christ, but we break easily.
So why on earth, when God could have chosen any manner possible to spread the gospel and redeem mankind, would he have entrusted us with that mission? Paul sees the divine purpose as this: when simple men and women continue the mission of Jesus, it will be clear to the world that the power, and I might think the courage and conviction, is from God alone.
I know many people don't exactly enjoy the bible paraphrase called The Message. I found today's translation rather amusing, actually, and I thought you might, too.
Did any of you NIV readers pick up the new word in the NLT translation? Not only are we jars of clay, a la the NIV, we are fragile clay jars in the NLT. I like it. Not only are we rather ordinary in contrast to the light of Christ, but we break easily.
So why on earth, when God could have chosen any manner possible to spread the gospel and redeem mankind, would he have entrusted us with that mission? Paul sees the divine purpose as this: when simple men and women continue the mission of Jesus, it will be clear to the world that the power, and I might think the courage and conviction, is from God alone.
I know many people don't exactly enjoy the bible paraphrase called The Message. I found today's translation rather amusing, actually, and I thought you might, too.
It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!", and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful. If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned, clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know yourselves that we're not much to look at.
So, we may not be much to look at, but God wants us to share in His divine purpose. The light of Jesus that dwells in us as believers has been given as a gift to be shared. His power, we will read later in 2 Corinthians 12, is made perfect in weakness. Our weakness. Our fragility.
He didn't give us the light to make us look good. He gave it to us to make Him look good to a watching, lost and lonely world. When all is said and done, we'll still look like clay jars, and the glory will be God's.
So, we may not be much to look at, but God wants us to share in His divine purpose. The light of Jesus that dwells in us as believers has been given as a gift to be shared. His power, we will read later in 2 Corinthians 12, is made perfect in weakness. Our weakness. Our fragility.
He didn't give us the light to make us look good. He gave it to us to make Him look good to a watching, lost and lonely world. When all is said and done, we'll still look like clay jars, and the glory will be God's.
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