{"id":27,"date":"2006-08-18T16:51:49","date_gmt":"2006-08-18T21:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/?p=27"},"modified":"2016-09-17T09:56:24","modified_gmt":"2016-09-17T14:56:24","slug":"cracked-pots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/?p=27","title":{"rendered":"Cracked Pots?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"imagelink\" href=\"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/CHURCHLADY.jpg\" title=\"Church Lady\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"image28\" src=\"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/CHURCHLADY.thumbnail.jpg\" alt=\"Church Lady\" height=\"96\" width=\"48\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nWe are all, too familiar, with those Christians who walk around looking all pious, smug, and self righteous. I&#8217;ve often wondered &#8220;what is up with that?&#8221;. These are people who are supposed to be free, full of joy, and a light unto the world. How is it that they are so miserable?<br \/>\nPerhaps they are so self righteous that they don&#8217;t need to seek God&#8217;s face daily, to receive His mercies and grace  anew, like I do, or they forgot that God desires mercy from us more than sacrifice [Matthew 12:7].<br \/>\nI think perhaps the real problem is that they try to cover up any cracks in their pots.   Isaiah said, &#8220;But now, O LORD, you are our father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.&#8221;[Isaiah 64:8].<br \/>\nYou see, we are all just earthen vessels, the irony here is that the more cracks you have in your pot, the more God&#8217;s glorious light can shine through you. &#8220;For God, who said, &#8220;Let light shine out of darkness,&#8221; made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God&#8221;s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us&#8221; [II Corinthians 4:6-7].<br \/>\nYou see, It is in our weaknesses that people see God&#8217;s power.  Just ask Paul, who when he cried out to God about his imperfections, got this answer, &#8220;My grace is sufficient for you: for my power is made perfect in weakness.&#8221; Paul then came to this conclusion, &#8220;Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ&#8221;s power may rest on me. [II Corinthians 12:9].<br \/>\nAlso it is in our humility that people can see God&#8217;s glory.  Just ask Mary, who in Luke chapter 7:36-50 is referred to as a sinner, yet when she humbled herself Christ had this to say about her, &#8220;Why I say to you, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to who little is forgiven, the same loves little.&#8221;[Luke 7:47]. &#8220;Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may lift you up in due time.&#8221;[1 Peter 5:6]. &#8220;For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.&#8221;[Matthew 23:12].<br \/>\nSo don&#8217;t worry if you look all cracked up, Christ said, &#8220;You are the light of the world.&#8221;&#8230;&#8221;In the same way let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.&#8221; [Matthew 5:14&#038;16]. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are all, too familiar, with those Christians who walk around looking all pious, smug, and self righteous. I&#8217;ve often wondered &#8220;what is up with that?&#8221;. These are people who are supposed to be free, full of joy, and a light unto the world. How is it that they are so miserable? Perhaps they are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435,"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27\/revisions\/435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/meditations.tylerdata.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}