Then the Lord told me to say:
People of Israel, I, the Lord, have power over you, just as a potter has power over clay. If I threaten to uproot and shatter an evil nation, and that nation turns from its evil, I will change my mind.
If I promise to make a nation strong, but its people start disobeying me and doing evil, then I will change my mind and not help them at all.
So listen to me, people of Judah and Jerusalem! I have decided to strike you with disaster, and I won't change my mind unless you stop sinning and start living right.
But I know you won't listen. You might as well answer, “We don't care what you say. We have made plans to sin, and we are going to be stubborn and do as we please!”
Jeremiah 18:5-12
So we sit like a lump of clay on the wheel of a potter waiting for the Lord to make us into the vessel He has chosen. The difference between a man and a lump of clay is that we can stubbornly refuse to be shaped as God wishes.
When men choose to disobey God, He has promised that He will not help them at all! It doesn't matter how much you fervently cry out to God for help if you are walking in disobedience to Him. In your heart you say "I have made plans to sin, and I am going to be stubborn and do as I please!"
The essence of "Free Will" is that God gives us the ability to reject Him and go our own way. He will not force us to be faithful to Him and He will not trap us into yielding to His will. God wants us to choose Him and to love Him like a young woman gives her heart to a young man! It is indeed the greatest love story ever told!
Are you in a "love relationship" with Jesus Christ or do you obey Him so you won't go to Hell? Do you desire Him like no one else and nothing else in this life? And when Jesus touches your heart is it the most memorable of moments? Is your life yielded to the hands of the Potter as He forms you into the vessel that He desires?
"Lord Jesus, this day I want to say "Yes" to You in everything and in every way. I want Your touch on every breath I take and every thought in my mind. May I be completely Yours now and forever. Amen."
No comments:
Post a Comment