Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
WEDNESDAY, April 6
Jeremiah 18:1-11. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
April 6 is a special day for me. It marks a day of transformation for this lump of clay and the beginning of a journey. If I continue to be willing to admit I need the Potter’s continual shaping, this journey will have spanned twenty-one years by the time you are reading this.
Picking up where we left off yesterday, the Potter analogy might lend some credibility to the doctrine of original sin: we’re bad lumps of clay in need of the Potter. I agree we need the Potter, but I don’t think the clay is bad; clay is clay. Some clay remains in the ground; some is made into beautiful pottery. Some is broken, both during and after creation. Clay is just clay, except in the Potter’s hands.
The Potter’s hands are my focus today, not whether I’m good or bad clay. I’m the same clay that was on my way to being an ugly pot, a broken pot, and even a pot that broke other pots. But now here I am being shaped into a useable pot. It’s not bad or good clay; it’s a good Potter.
PRAY for the Diocese of Mundri (Sudan)
Ps 101, 109:1-4(5-19)20-30 * 119:121-144; Romans 8:1-11; John 6:27-40
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Often the more set we become in our own ways, traditions, selfishness—the less malleable we are.
The Potter’s hands are gifted beyond measure, actively forming us in beautiful ways. He kneads, pounds, pulls, and lovingly shapes. He is able to continue the molding and shaping, as we remain malleable in His hands, even reworking spots that have been spoiled. The result is a useful, beautiful vessel that reveals the Potter’s creative genius. “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:20).