You - God vs. You + God

 "How the precious children of Zion,  once worth their weight in gold, are now considered as pots of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!" Lamentations 4:2 (NIV)

Hello DWDI Family!


    Sorry it took me so long to get this post out.  Studying is dominating my life right now and it just took a while for this post to come together.  I hope to get on a more regular posting schedule in a few weeks, but until then, please bear with me :-)

     


     Over the years, I've realized that God is the great equalizer, yet He separates and elevates His obedient children, obedient followers of Christ, to various positions of authority and service to bring about His kingdom on earth.  How can He do both, you ask? This will require a bit of going back and forth between scripture and present-day application, so bear with me.  First, let's put the quoted Bible verse in context and then go from there.

    Well, the quote is from the Book of Lamentations written by the prophet Jeremiah.  The Israelites were at very low point in Biblical history.  Beginning with King Solomon, the Israelites began to turn away from God and to worship the pagan gods of the surrounding peoples.  As wise as he was and as much as he loved God, Solomon had numerous wives who followed pagan religions.  When he allowed them to practice those religions he set a poor example as both head of his household and as king of Israel because this encouraged his people to follow those religions as well.  In fairness, many people still worshipped God but just added worshipping other gods.  It was a BIG MISTAKE to worship other gods and break one of the Ten Commandments! This disobedience led to a series of ungodly kings (with the exception of King Josiah), the division of Israel into two kingdoms, and a series of conquests by foreign kingdoms.  The first of those kingdoms, the Babylonian Kingdom, came into Jerusalem and destroyed the Holy Temple.  The Holy Temple was where the Israelites worshipped God and priests performed daily rituals to cleanse away the sins of the Israelite community.  The Temple also housed the Ark of the Covenant, which housed the Ten Commandments, also known as the beginnings of God's laws for Christianity.  With the Temple destroyed and the Ark of the Covenant hidden to prevent it's destruction along with the temple, the connection the Israelites had with God was never the same.  The destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple and the missing Ark led to Jeremiah writing the pertinent Bible verse. 

     History is checked off the to-do list.  Okay, let's get to the actual verse.  When Jeremiah speaks of the children of Zion he is refering to the Israelites as a whole with Zion being the church, or the Temple in this case.  As previously stated, the Temple was the connection between God and the Israelites here on earth (in addition to the prophets).  Without it and the Ark, the Israelites lost their direct connection to God and had no way to cleanse themselves from sin.  With their connection to God and before they strayed away spiritually, the Israelites were a prosperous people and a force to be reckoned with.  Why? Because they were a FAITHFUL PEOPLE.  They realized that without God, they were just fragile, earthly creations of God that could be broken by sin, like clay pots, and then disgarded by the world without a second thought when no longer useable.  Without their faith in God and God testing their faith, they could not be the shining light and example to other peoples practicing pagan religions which they were.  Gold, when put in and through fire purifies and become even better than it was originally.  This is what happened with the Israelites when they were obedient.  When they were disobedient, the Israelites lost that unique shining light and later became a people scattered and divided by numerous conquests and by internal conflicts within their people.

     Now, back to modern-day times and the application.  How do you view yourself? Do you see yourself as a nobody? Just okay or decent? The hottest thing walking around? Why is that? Is it based on what someone else said? Is it based on what material things you have or is it based on what material things you do not have? Unfortunately, society tends to praise and reward people for what things and negative qualities they have instead of their potential for godly greatness.  It is a shame and it can be so discouraging when it seems like people who are not putting God first and focusing only on their worldly desires seem to succeed.  

     Fortunately, God fixes these inequities for us and then empowers us to serve Him for His glory! How? Well, we get an idea of how God sees us based on the Bible verse above.  For starters, God loves us all equally and sees all of our potential for greatness.  Isn't that amazing? If everyone could do the same, we would be a lot better off.  

     If we are all equally loved in God's eyes, how does He set Christians apart and give them more authority to bring about His Kingdom and to serve Him? Because God loves us, He wants us to have eternal life with Him in Heaven.  This is where Jesus' death on the cross as the last sacrifice to atone for all of our sins, his resurrection from the dead, and us excepting Jesus as Lord and Savior come into play.  Our acceptance sets us apart to be blessed and highly favored by God.  Does this mean He loves Christians more than non-Christians? ABSOLUTELY NOT! God loves us all the same!!! Does accepting Christ always translate into abundant material wealth? No, but it does translate into having a rewarding personal relationship with God, more confidence in yourself as a child of the Living God who can do all things through Christ who strengths us (whether it is gaining control of your finances, health, beating addictions, etc., we can do all things through Christ) and have more joy and peace in your life because of Him taking our burdens and blessing us right when we need it and with more than we could ever imagine.  God's love, our acceptance of Jesus, and our obedience to following God fills us and transforms us from fragile pottery into our full potential with Him; we become like gold that has been refined and shines a light for others to receive God's love as well so God entrusts us with more authority over His people to serve as representative of Christians everywhere.  

     With all of that said, how do you view yourself now?