Never give up when you are broken

I can't think of a time in my life when I needed to read this more. Not yesterday. Not last week. Not tomorrow. Today. God is amazing that way. I love what Paul says about the God we serve and who we really are:

Jesus Christ is the Power of God and the Light in this dark world. But look what Paul says about us:

2 Cor 4:7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, ***but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure.***

Recent health events and experiences have taught me how fragile we really are. We are delicate beings subject to being fractured at the slightest of moves or errors. We are fragile emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally. Don't believe that? When you get "the call" from your dr "it may be bad news" -see if you don't react emotionally. How many of don't experience our physical fragility constantly - especially as life goes on. We break easily. Some is our own undoing. Poor eating habits, little exercise etc. Some is just life. I can trip over my own feet and how many times have I not been looking and ran into a door facing. It hurts. Spiritually we may do right things but let a crisis come into our lives and where do you stand then? Someone hurts you with harsh words or betrays your trust - how does that affect your relationship with them.

We are easily broken in this world. And yet God choose to put the Light of His Son IN US - so that we could show the world HIS GLORY AND POWER.

Look at the last part of verse 7: This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.

When we use the power on the inside of us - the power that comes fro God - amazing things happen. Actually the light shines through the cracks and pores of our weakness so that others can know there is nothing in us and everything in Christ. Thats why Paul went on to talk about how hard the ministry was:

8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.

11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.

13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke." 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.

Paul had it tough. Go read 2 Corinthians 11. Shipwrecked, stoned (not the good kind), beaten, left for dead, nearly drowned...How hard to we have it here in America? Compare that to Haiti right now. Paul was willing to endure ANYTHING and EVERYTHING so that more people could know the power of Christ and be with Him forever - thats why he said:

16 That is why we never give up.

NEVER GIVE UP NO MATTER WHAT! Look what happens when you push through the pain, the hurt, the emotions, the mistakes, the hateful hurtful words and deeds for the sake of the Gospel:

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

I am a broken jar of clay but I will NEVER give up the calling of God in my life! NEVER!

Created over 2 years ago