Bjcorbin's Blog

As the wheel begins to turn, the clay is centered in the middle of the hub.  At this stage, it is little more than a pile of thick mud.  But as the skilled hands of the craftsman take hold, something unique and functional emerges.  Smoothing rough patches, building up thin spots, evening out the edges… the potter cannot rush the process if he hopes for his work to stand up to the fire of the kiln.  As one hand forms the inner contour, the other shapes the external face; and it is only in the balance of these two forces that a usable vessel is created.

Indeed, our God is the potter and we are the clay; He has destined us to be conformed to the image of His Son and He is faithful to complete the good work He has begun in us.  Though many a motivational speaker would have us believe that we are something more than mere clay, the fact remains that apart from God, we can do “nothing” (which literally means “no thing”).  This of course doesn’t mean that we can’t busy ourselves with our own plans and strategies; it just means that, in the end, they won’t pass the test of fire.  In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t deny the claims of those who say, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles”; He simply says that He never knew them.  Ultimately it is not about what is done “in His name”, it’s about what is done “in Him”.

Though the Lord most certainly uses the lives of mere men within His plan, I believe that it is only when those lives move in unison with the internal work that He’s doing in a heart that a fruitful outcome is achieved.  Just like the potter’s wheel, it is the coordination of the internal and external forces that shape the vessel.  That is why to those who are perishing the cross is foolishness; unless a heart has begun to yield to the wooing of the Lord (i.e. the internal force), it cannot comprehend the cross (i.e. an external manifestation).  I also believe this is why so much of the church’s efforts to evangelize fall flat.  Many have been taught that if we simply present the gospel the right way, it will bring people to Christ; but ultimately it is not the quality of our gospel seed, it is the condition of the soil to receive it.  No one comes unless He draws them and hardened soil will not receive even a good seed.  This is why true evangelism is rooted in genuine relationship and not simply handing out tracts at the mall.  This point is even further bore out by the fact that the cross represents the power of God to those who are “being saved” (as opposed to just those who are already saved).  Despite our boasts, only God Himself can truly claim to have led someone to Jesus.

It seems to me that a lot of religious activity is focused on our external work, without any real sensitivity to the corresponding internal work of God.  Indeed, our Christian bookstores are filled with volumes on 10 ways to do this and 5 ways to do that.  It’s unlikely that many of those instructions contain a step that says something like “wait on the Lord and act only after receiving direction from Him”.  Within the potter’s wheel analogy, this type of formulaic activity is likely to be more distorting than productive.  The litany of people, who would claim to have been wounded by their interactions with church and Christianity, would only seem to validate this premise.

I’ve long held that the “Great Commission” is something of a misnomer.  Though undoubtedly God has called us to make disciples of all nations, the word “commission” often takes on the connotation of acting on someone’s behalf (i.e. independently from them) and that is not the context that scripture presents.  We can read the Bible, but without the interaction of the Holy Spirit, we’re likely just to interpret the words to suit ourselves.  We can consider ourselves the voice of truth, but without discerning the heart of God, we are more likely to cultivate oppression than freedom.  We can tell people about Jesus, but without any real sense of what God is doing in their lives, it can be just like throwing seed on a parking lot.  Jesus Himself said that He didn’t do anything until He saw the Father do it first; how presumptuous it is to assume that we’d be able to do otherwise.  The apostle Paul exhorted us to walk in the Spirit, to live in the Spirit and to be led by the Spirit, which is essentially the same thing that Jesus described.  Ultimately it is only when the two hands work in tandem that we can see genuine increase.