Earthen Vessels

April 28, 2020

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

—II Corinthians 4:6-7 NKJV

The contrast is unmistakable. We know the glory of God—the magnificence that literally shines like the sun, that sparkles off the stream dancing over the Adirondack rocks, and takes the breath away at the sight of the wonders of Yellowstone; the extravagance of our salvation, of regeneration, adoption, justification, sanctification, and glorification, forgiveness and freedom from condemnation—we experience all this in Jesus Christ. The glories of our salvation are beyond our comprehension, but even more, we hold this treasure “in earthen vessels.”

The glory of our life in Christ is not something we must wait for. It’s not delayed gratification—something we only receive when we get to heaven. We hold this treasure in earthen vessels, our earthly bodies. 

Paul has just finished listing some of the perils he has faced; the difficulties that came with being faithful to Jesus Christ. At times, it got so hard, he thought his end was surely at hand. There was nothing in his life that most people would consider glorious. He wasn’t dressed in fancy clothes, didn’t live in a big house with servants, didn’t have people hanging on every word he spoke. No, he often was cold, hungry, in danger, without protection, and underappreciated. He wasn’t in it for the fame, glory, money, or power. From the very beginning, he knew his lot would be hard. At his conversion, God said, “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” —Acts 9:16 NKJV

We Americans have lived in unusual times. We’ve been blessed to live in a country with unparalleled opportunity to prosper in this world. Following Christ has not brought to us the kind of persecution our brothers and sisters around the world have experienced. Our “earthen vessels” have been pretty fancy stuff. We’ve lived the lives of fine china, expensive silver, and gold filigree, but most of God’s people have lived as disposable pottery, used hard till it breaks, when it is discarded and replaced. 

But I’ve noticed something over the years. Some of the most beautiful people I know have lived through some of the most terrible and destructive experiences. But instead of being destroyed by them, those experiences were like a refiner’s fire, burning away the impurities till they shone from within.

Emmy lived about five miles down the road from us, up a long path that in West Virginia would be called a holler. She was in her eighties, and as a young pastor, I would visit her regularly. Her home was modest, but filled with what today we would call antiques which for her, were merely her everyday items. When visiting, I would often sit at her old parlor organ, pumping the pedals and accompanying as we sang old Gospel hymns. She would sing, tears streaming down her face. You see, Emmy’s husband had left her years before and taken up with the woman whose house was at the entry to her holler. Every time Emmy left home, she had to pass that house, seeing the two of them together. Her heart was not only broken, but continually rubbed raw by the abuse she withstood from them. So we would sing and she would cry. And as she did so, I could see the glory of God in her countenance. I am grateful for Emmy and others like her I’ve known. They revealed Christ to me, and made me want to be like them, even if it meant going through hard times. I saw in them the Treasure, not the vessel. And it was beautiful.