God, I am your clay jar. What a great word picture. (Thank you, Paul.) This is exactly what I need. This daily reminder to be your vessel for “extraordinary power”—not mine, but Yours.
I am memorizing portions of the text, absolutely timely. 2 Corinthians, chapter 4. I started with the final paragraph, a day or two before little Quoia was born.
Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 CSB).
I remember the timing of my meditation, because of its almost hilarious application. I’d been seeing the chiropractor for some aches and pains. Lower back pain mostly, but also concern about a knee. I shall confess right here—I’d begun to worry. I worry about getting older and the body wearing out. When you’re walking alongside aging parents you live in this constant tension between acknowledging the very real (and cruel) progression toward declining health and inevitable loss—and the honest hope that you’re not quite there yet. So I’m sensing this conflict, and I’m a wee bit worried. And then, to make matters worse, I catch a toe exiting my own closet, and I know right away, it’s broken. Which leaves me, shall we say—
Deflated.
That’s Friday night. The very next Saturday morning I wake with these thoughts in mind, and I’m reading the fourth chapter of Paul’s second letter—thinking about the outer person being destroyed—when I receive a text and a phone call. My California son, telling me there’s baby coming. And just like that…a total reboot of my former mindset.
A momentary light affliction replaced by an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.
I am obviously aware this is not the intended context. But it works. All day and the next several, every time I think about my broken toe it epitomizes “a momentary light affliction” when compared to the glory of a brand new baby. And I laugh.
I continue memorizing. Going back a few verses to the image of the jar and its contents.
Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:7-9).
More confession.
In addition to my worry over physical affliction I’ve also been dealing with some ongoing frustration. Seeking clarity for my own stuff, and tired of waiting. But also looking at the state of the world and feeling somewhat helpless. How can I best describe this state of mind??
PERPLEXED.
There it is. The perfect word to describe my current state. (Thanks again to Paul and the CSB translation.) “We are perplexed.” Permission granted.
Perplexed, and yet, we do not despair.
Yes. There is a difference between perplexed and despairing.
“You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
I think about being perplexed but not despairing, and it reminds me of these words from Jesus. I flip through the Gospels, searching, and find them. John 16:33. And I laugh again. Because here is a bit of the context:
Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world (John 16:20-21).
JOY. JOY. JOY.
There you have it.
I’m limping around on a broken toe, and I’m trying to be patient as I wait and trust. I read snippets of news and yes, I’m aware, in this world we have trouble. And yet we have this hope-filled perspective.
We may be afflicted, but it won't crush us.
We may face actual persecution, but we will never be abandoned.
We may be struck down, but we will NOT be destroyed.
And.
We will be perplexed. Puzzled. Baffled even. But
WE WON’T DESPAIR.
At the end of the day we will LAUGH. LAUGH. LAUGH.
Because all of it is light affliction compared this most astonishing string of adjectives. Maybe you need to hear them again. I know I do…
Our momentary light affliction is producing for us an
Absolutely. Incomparable. Eternal. Weight. Of GLORY!!
Glory.
I have this treasure right here…stored inside…this old jar of clay.
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