2-16-2018

 Good Morning All,

2 Corinthians; “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” 

    Once again, we see the fragile nature of life.  We witness the senseless killing or wounding of dozens of children and wonder why?   Perhaps you are like me and wonder when did this become so common.  When did horrific violence become a goal.

    There were a couple of highway accidents where people lost control on slippery roads and crashed into other vehicles.  We see incidents of events which seem to spin out of control and we wonder what is going on.  We are left with why?

    When sin entered the world, so did pain, uncertainty, and plain chaos.  All of creation was disrupted when sin entered the world.  When God looked at his creation it was very good, sin made it not good.  We are left with the grim results.  Pain, suffering, and other tragic events seem to occur more often and maybe even closer to us than ever before.  We watch the world spin out of control.

     The very sad truth is that the world will spin out of control because it walks away from God.  It goes away from good which means it heads toward bad.  Even believers can and will be affected by this truth. Life is fragile; we live in jars of clay which can be easily broken.

     There is little, if anything, which we can do to stop or change the course of events like these.  The most important thing we can do is to realize that life, as fragile as a clay jar, is a tremendous gift from God and that all life, every life should be treasured.  It is easy to think that we are indestructible, especially in our youth, but we aren’t; we are all clay jars. 

     Yet, God gives us hope.  We have the gift of God’s Spirit living in us which will enable our soul to live eternally with him and with all other believers.  We are clay jars but we have a soul which will never die.  So as we watch or experience events like these we need to remember that we live with hope in a world where there is none outside of Christ.  Our hope is in our salvation and eternal life not in this world which is corrupted but our hope is in the glorious hope for tomorrow. 

    We, as believers, look forward to the time when these painful events don’t occur.  This will only happen when Christ returns.  So until then we can only endure the pain of this world, knowing that God will provide us with comfort, consolation and hope.  This is really what Christmas is about; the gift of hope that the birth of the Savior gives to us; the gift of hope that his resurrection secures for us. 

    So as we go forth, remember that we are clay jars so be sure to tell and show your loved ones just how precious they are in your life.  Pray for the families who have been hurt by these events and others who are in pain and pray that God will come soon and end this pain and bring to us eternal peace.

Dear Father, our hearts are broken for the pain we see and feel.  Give us the comfort that only you can give.  Come Lord Jesus, come bring an end to our pain and bring about our salvation.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen. 

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret