Up Close and Personal

So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. 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.

Jeremiah18:3-4

My sister’s husband is a pilot. Years ago I went flying with him in a small plane. I remember flying over my house thinking how beautiful everything looked. The house sat on a well-manicured lawn, the trees looked perfectly shaped and small bursts of color came from the flowerbeds. It was a beautiful sight from on high. However, the reality was the lawn needed mowing, the trees had several dead limbs, and the flowerbeds were full of weeds. What appeared perfect from a distance was far from perfect up close.

Perhaps you have had the same experience in life. That job that looked to be the perfect fit included a lot more responsibility and stress than you thought. That marriage you were certain would be perfect became flawed, disappointing at times—real! Countless experiences have become imperfect, difficult, and sometimes downright ugly.

While we are living our flawed up close and personal lives, we look from a distance at the lives of others and think they have it perfect. Really? Isn’t it true that we are all flawed people living in a flawed world? So, there are no flawless relationships, flawless children, or flawless circumstances.

But, there is a flawless Savior. Not only is He walking with us through the weeds of life, He’s the Potter who is reworking His redeemed into vessels that seems good to Him. Jesus loves to take those flawed situations and experiences and use them to increasingly mold us into His flawless character. 

In your flawed life, are you fixed upon that flawed person (even the one in the mirror)? Are you dwelling upon that flawed experience? Or are you fixed upon the Potter who up close and personal longs to rework you into a vessel pleasing to Him?

Jan Burkhart