18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” 3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 4 But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. (Jeremiah 18:1-4, NIV)
Self Improvement! We all seek it, or have sought after it at some point of our life.
We strive to lose weight, get stronger, eat healthier, form smarter habits, and more all for the sake of improving our bodies.
It’s a good thing…to care for our bodies, afterall, we are God’s temple and we should be taking care of it.
However, I would caution you to seek self improvement if its because you don’t have a good self image of yourself. Why? Because God created you the way He wanted, and like a wise man once said, “God doesn’t make mistakes.”
As I read Jeremiah’s text, the end of verse four is strikingly important, “…shaping it as seemed best to him.” God is the potter and we are the clay. His hands have shaped us into who the He wanted us to be.
If you don’t like yourself, then you haven’t yet accepted the fact that the Almight God, Creator of this Universe, created you in His image and after you were created, He looked and said of His creation, “It is good.”
God doesn’t make gross! We are not one of His “experiments” where he mixed a little of your mom’s genetics with your dad’s genetics and then said, “yikes, what do we have here?”
You were wonderfully created.
The potter has power over the clay to permit the defects to remain or reshape the pot. God has the same power to reshape our lives and we should be willing and receptive to it. As we yield to Him, He begins reshaping us into His valuable vessel.
See yourselves as God’s creation today. Let your flaws make you beautiful. Learn from your past mistakes as God continues to mold you into the creation He wants you to be.
Prayer: Creating and Molding God, we hear Your message to us to be obedient to Your teachings and to repent of our evil ways. Give us courage to live lives different from the world around us. Give us guidance to recognize ways to honor You in our lives. Give us humility to allow You to mold us to the way You want us and not to how the world wants us to live. You are the Potter and we are the clay. Use us the way You desire. Amen.
Devotional
Devotional