1026) When I was in high school, one of my favorite classes was art. Our teacher was definitely an outside-the-box person, and that’s why I liked him. In my senior year, we did a unit on working with clay. I don’t remember what we made with it, but I remember that he had a 5-gallon bucket in the room’s corner with a couple of inches of water in it. This was used for collecting any leftover clay we had. After some time, the murky mixture molded (or something like that) and when I asked him why he kept it in the room, he replied, if anyone gets in trouble, I make them stick their hands in the bucket. We all had a good laugh.

I find making things on a potter’s wheel interesting. I’m amazed at how seemingly quick something forms and also how quickly something collapses. Why? Because clay is fragile in a lot of ways.

Paul knew the substance of clay well and refers to it in 2 Corinthians 4:7-12. He says that we are fragile, like clay, and it is a good thing because others will see the power of God within us. In spite of being delicate, God will not allow us to be crushed, perplexed, or destroyed.

Some of us may think, What? I know all kinds of Christians who are crushed, perplexed and destroyed. Verses 10-12 answer this. When we make a commitment to Christ, we recognize that our spiritual inheritance comes in the next life, not in this one. Paul is reminding us that our earthy being is delicate and yet this knowledge gives us hope. No matter what trials we face on this earth, we will not be crushed, perplexed or destroyed spiritually.

Clay is fragile, and that’s just the way God wants it.