Cooking Pot Christianity

There is something about beautiful handmade pottery that fascinates me. I look at an unusual piece of earthenware and almost immediately begin to picture in my mind the artist who molded and made a worthless piece of clay into a beautiful work of art. Whenever my husband and I travel, I look for shops that sell pottery made by local artisans. Usually I just look, but sometimes I find a piece I think I just can't live without.

One such piece is a beautiful blue bowl with a pouring spout on one side and a sleekly formed handle on the other. Where the potter pressed the handle into place with his thumb, I can place my thumb. And, where his fingers formed the pouring spout, I can place my fingers. The impressions he made on that bowl are so evident! I love that piece of pottery! To me it is a work of art.

It caught my eye the moment I walked into the little shop in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The lady behind the counter remarked about the beauty of the bowl and told me of the artist in the area that had created it. Then she said, "Not only is this a beautiful piece of pottery, but, best of all, this is usable pottery!"

I have to admit I had not thought of the usefulness of any of the pottery I had admired. I simply liked it for its beauty and the thought of the hands of the master potter gently, yet firmly, forming a piece of clay into a wonderful work of art. The value of this lovely bowl for me was purely aesthetic. However, I was curious about its usefulness and asked the clerk for an explanation. She told me the bowl could be used for mixing, serving and even baking, and it would still look beautiful sitting out for display. I saw a beautiful work of art. Now she was telling me it was actually a cooking pot!

In this little lake town in Wisconsin, a potter had taken a useless lump of clay and fashioned it into a beautiful vessel fit for use. That didn't just happen! The original clay had to be cleansed of impurities and carefully kneaded to remove destructive air bubbles before it could even begin to be formed into a vessel. Once the vessel was formed, it was still fragile and unfinished. Not until the potter added color, design, and glaze, and put the vessel through the intense heat of the kiln, did it become a vessel of beauty fit for use.

In Jeremiah 18:6,we read that He (God) is the potter and we are the clay. He knows exactly what ingredients to add to the clay in order to properly mold it. In the process, sometimes the clay breaks apart or developes a terrible flaw that would affect its beauty and usefulness if left undone. The potter doesn't throw the clay away. He works it with his hands and places it on the potter's wheel again. And the process of remolding and reshaping begins. Every finished piece must then go through the fire. The purpose of the fire is not to harm the vessel but to give it the strength to withstand the uses for which it was created. He knows just how much of the fire it will take to turn us into vessels of honor fit for use. It is His fingerprints that can be seen on the finished product.

Some years ago on an archaeological dig, at a well-known Roman site, Mr. Tony Birks picked up a dull fawn colored fragment of pottery. On the side, he could still see the fingerprints of a potter from some two thousand years ago.

II Timothy 2:20-21 says, "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes, and some for ignoble. If a man cleanse himself of the latter, he will be an instument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master, and prepared to do any good work."

God is willing to do whatever it takes to mold us into noble vessels. However, we must be willing to be molded. No matter how long it takes He will continue to work the clay with never a thought of casting it aside. And, when the molding is done, the color, design and glaze are added, and we have been strengthened in the fire, His fingerprints will be visible on these beautiful vessels of honor fit for the Master's use.