earthen vessel Archives – Sonshine's Journal

One of the things I never learned to enjoy is camping. I wish it were not so as everyone tells me how great it is, but truth be known, this author remembers the lengthy list of things you must pack such as lanterns and a sundry paraphernalia and of course the tent. Once there you get settled only to realize that the camping time has drawn to a close and you have to repack and move on. Unfortunately, my grumbling sounds like I need another lap around the wilderness just like the Israelites of old.

Paul uses the analogy of tenting to explain our life in this earthen vessel. He says beloved, it won’t be forever. I am sure the Israelites thought so too when they set up the Tabernacle. It was there for good, right? Wrong! God has a sense of humor and a way to get us to enjoy camping out with Him. He moves the light and the cloud and off we are again, packing up the Tabernacle and our tents to move on to another place. So too it is with our “tabernacle/tent” of our earthen vessels, this vessel, this outer man that is decaying day by day. Within we are new creation but our outer man is declining, frail and vulnerable as we said. But one day God will say it is time to fold up this earthly tabernacle and move on to the new destination and that is heaven where He is. Once there we will be outfitted with new camping gear and it won’t be that made with hands nor will it be temporary but eternal.

Until then, what is on God’s camping agenda for us? Vs 9: please Him; vs 11 persuade people to be reconciled to Him; vs 20 be His ambassadors; vs 21 be His righteousness before those whose minds are veiled and are perishing; 1Thess 4:2 walk and please Him; 1John 3:22, obey his commandments; Col 1:10 walk worthily of the Lord.

What should be our motive? Paul says it is the love of Christ that constraineth us and we are no longer to live for ourselves but for Him who died for us and was raised—just as the scriptures said. 1Cor 15:3-4 “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.” Christ’s death accomplished the do’s and don’ts once and for all by paying for our sin and making us righteous.

So are you grumbling and groaning in this mortal “tent” like me? Take heart, I am sure Job , Noah and Enoch felt the same way along with a score of others. We won’t be on this earthly journey forever. One day we will see that the light and the cloud have moved and it is time to pack up our tent and head on to the new destination; heaven. Until then, let’s all learn to enjoy camping out with God and pleasing Him.

As the days draw shorter here in the northern hemisphere so the use of artificial lighting increases. Some luminaries or solar devices will illuminate our walkways to aid visitors as well as to give beauty in our barren landscapes of winter. But as each day returns so the lights of these will fade. That is the picture Paul painted for us as he explained the fading glory of the Old Covenant but in contrast the picture of the New Covenant’s increasing glory as the Spirit of the Living God takes up residence within us.

In chapter 3 Paul used the imagery of the veil and in chapter 4 he continues to use that same imagery but in a different vein. In chapter 3 we saw that the veil is over the hearts of those who minds are closed and chapter 4 the source of that closing is the enemy himself, Satan. He places that veil lest they, who are the perishing, might see the glorious gospel of Christ, the very image of God. However there is a promise in chapter 3 that when one turns to the Lord the veil over hearts and minds is removed and one can now see Christ in all of His glory. It is then that the transformation process of becoming more and more like Him begins and our “Jesus Light” emerges. We become His luminary to emit His Light to those who are perishing.

Now Paul reminds us that even though the veil has been lifted and we are becoming more like Christ, it is the inner man not the outer man that is being transformed. The outer man continues to decay and is frail and vulnerable. Yet we have this promise: He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust“ (Psalm 103:14) So although we are still an earthen vessel, having been formed from dust, yet within our hearts His light is shining. God as the Potter has taken us from the dust, removed our veil and filled us with the Spirit of the Living God to be molded and shaped by Him for one reason: to emit His Light to those whose minds are veiled by the master schemer and deceiver. It is this power we have within plus the Word of God that rends the veil and removes the shackles that bind. Too, we must also remember that the master deceiver seeks to diminish our light. Therefore we must put on the armor daily and say as John the Baptist: “Jesus Christ must increase, but I must decrease.” Don Hoekster says: “God’s plan is to put extraordinary heavenly treasure into ordinary earthen vessels, so that the attention will go to the contents, not to the container: “that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” How liberating and exciting to know that we are His to be used for His glory and to reveal His Light to those who are perishing!

The question thus for us this day is this: Am I a “Jesus Light” that penetrates the veil of the perishing?

Tag: earthen vessel

Camping Out With God (2Cor 5)

Be a “Jesus Light” to the Perishing (2Cor 5)