Forever Home in the Eternal Family of God

A Daily Devotional for the Family of God by Kenton Cheek

10 August 2024

Reading From Jeremiah 18-22

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord:“Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.”

–Jeremiah 18:1-10

     As a son or daughter of God lives their life on Earth, there are times when in response to our chosen course of action, He breaks our pride and guides us through a process of rebuilding and reshaping us.  This can be an uncomfortable, even painful process.  Much like the analogy Jesus used of cutting off unfruitful branches and carefully pruning fruitful ones, God takes the lump of clay that is a human life and shapes it into a useful vessel, a functional work of art. 

     Heavenly Father conforms us into His image, gradually restoring us to how He intended us to be from the beginning in Eden.  On a practical level, there are thoughts, words and actions in every one of our lives that do not honor the Lord.  From the time we are born again until the moment we transition to Heaven, we are growing spiritually from glory to glory as we learn more from the Lord about how He wants us to live. 

     I suppose I’m mixing metaphors, but this means partnering with Him in pruning off anything in our lives that doesn’t glorify Him; it means allowing Him to break down our pride so that He can rebuild us stronger, holier and filled with more of His love.  Father God shapes us into a vessel that the pure oil of the Holy Spirit can fill us to overflowing, pouring blessings into the lives around us. 

     Even then, at times we are shattered either by tragedy, hard times, or the harsh reality of dealing with our own consequences, He gently picks up the pieces.  In the Japanese art of Kintsugi, pottery is repaired using a mixture of urushi lacquer and silver, gold or platinum. 

In similar fashion, but on a higher level, our Creator repairs us better and more beautiful than before we were broken.  Part of our value comes from our brokenness.  Angels long to look into these things, these mysteries of redemption.

“We give You honor, praise and glory Lord, for You are the Master Potter.  Bring humility to our hearts and minds that we might be broken and reshaped into who You want us to be.  Fill us up with Your Spirit until Your anointing floods the world with goodness.  Thank You for how tenderly You care for us.  Amen.”

He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.

Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

–Psalm 40:2-4