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In September of 2009, I received an email from a sister-in-law. The email contained a story titled, Clay Balls.
The story was about a man who was exploring caves by the seashore. He found a bag with hardened clay balls in one of the caves, which looked like someone had intentionally rolled the clay and left them out in the sun to bake.
Perhaps some children made them while they were at the beach, the man thought. They did not look like much, but they fascinated him, so he took the bag out of the cave with him.
As he strolled along the beach, he threw the clay balls one by one out to the ocean as far as he could. The balls would fly and disappear into the water. He thought little about it until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside the clay-ball was a beautiful precious stone!
The man started breaking open the remaining clay balls in excitement. The balls contained different types of precious stones. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in all twenty of the remaining clay balls.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time, and he may have thrown 50 to 60 of the balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves.
Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
Many people throw away their precious lives because they neither acknowledge nor recognise the treasure that God has put in their lives.
Also, they throw precious relationships away because they do not see the treasure in the lives of others, which may be covered with clay. You know, as they say, “You never know what you got until you lose it.”
We look at ourselves, and we only see the external clay vessel. It does not look like much from the outside. It is not beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
Many believers look down on themselves because externally there is not much to see or to show. Otherwise, they compare themselves with others and look down on themselves or vice-versa, based on that comparison.
We look at someone as less important than another we consider more beautiful or stylish, well known or wealthy. And all of this is from an external point of view. But we have not taken the time to find and focus on the treasure hidden in people. It takes the effort of love to seek the best in others.
If you are a believer in Christ, your value comes from within. It is from what the Lord has deposited in you. You need to see beyond the external to acknowledge the treasure within.
For God, who said, “Let brilliant light shine out of darkness,” is the one who has cascaded his light into us- the brilliant dawning light of the glorious knowledge of God as we gaze into the face of Jesus Christ. We are like common clay jars that carry glorious treasure within so that the extraordinary overflow of power will be seen as God’s, not ours -2 Corinthians 4:6-7, TPT.
Are you a child of God? There is a precious treasure- light and power that now shines within you, though it is held in a perishable container that is your weak body (see 2 Corinthians 4:7, TLB). God is the one that invested that treasure in you.
There is tremendous good that God has invested in your life if you are a believer in Christ. You must acknowledge and understand every good thing that is in you on account of what Christ has done for you. It is only then that your lifestyle of faith can become effective, so that you do not end up throwing your life into the ocean of the world, living a fruitless and ineffective life, even though you are a child of God.
That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Philemon 6, KJV.
In response to one of my recent blogs, a lovely brother commented:
“I don’t know how you manage to keep things going with the challenges you have.” He continued, “I have given up. That’s how it seems, even though I still push a bit, perhaps because I am still alive. Sometimes, I think death is better.”
Every one of us has challenges in life. But we all have overcoming capacity within. The question is what are you looking at? What do you reckon as your portion? Do you consider the problems around you to be greater than the light and power the Lord has put within you?
Do you fill your heart with the treasure of God’s word, such that when the pressures of life seem to compress you like a sponge, it is the water of the word that is released?
On the contrary, are you focused on the ‘common clay’ of your physical existence and circumstances around you, and then you throw out the baby with the bathwater?
The life that God has put in you is better than death! You have passed from death onto life! Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world! We are more than conquerors through Christ! We can do all things through Him who strengthens us! These words are not empty. They are spirit and life.
Challenges are indeed real, but when we consistently meditate on the word instead of the problems we face, we would sooner than later have inner peace- the peace of God that passes all understanding. It is that peace that helps us to mount up with wings as eagles.
Peace clears our hearts and minds to receive insight that gives us direction and solutions from the Lord.
You can effectively use what you have only when you acknowledge it and develop it. As an individual, you have built into your life a combination of gifts, talents, positive character traits, skills and even quirks unique to you. No one else in the world has such a valuable combination.
So it is imprudent to compare yourself with others. Neither is it wise to base the value of your life on what you have externally or how you look.
Like Paul, we should no longer view ourselves and other people from an external standpoint. He puts it this way:
Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other -2 Corinthians 5:16-19, THE MESSAGE.
There is a treasure in every one of us. If we take the time to really get to know people, and if we ask God to show us how He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away, and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth. Someday, someone would testify, I am blessed by the gems of friendship I have had with you. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away our precious lives or fortunes in friendships because the gems were concealed in jars or balls of clay. I pray God helps us see the people He brings to our lives the way He sees them!
It is not wise to look down on yourself or other people for any reason whatsoever. Believe in the treasure God has placed inside of you (clay vessel). And believe in other people too!
Let us learn to look beyond the clay because there is a treasure in the clay vessels.
Meanwhile, Jumi thanks for the mail on the clay balls.
Thank you. Do not forget to keep living, loving and learning.
