JARS OF CLAY. 2 Corinthians 4:7.

Few buildings rival Solomon’s Temple. It included the Outer Courts, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Within the temple, God instructed the people to use candles for light—ten “golden lampstands” with seven candles on each one. That’s 70 lamps burning pure olive oil. These beautiful menorahs were huge, each made of 75 pounds of gold.

In the New Testament, God has chosen to place His Light not on a golden lampstand but in the hearts of His children. Why? So His light can be seen by the lost.

And when does the light within you shine the brightest? When you suffer—because when believers endure hardships, more light escapes. When a believer suffers, people pay attention. They watch how you respond. They see how you handle fear, grief, anger, and loneliness, and sometimes that causes them to say, ‘I need whatever he has.’

“Now we have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the extraordinary power may be seen to be from God and not from men. We are pressured in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed. We always carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be revealed through us” 2 Corinthians 4:7.

We are not golden lamps. We are jars of clay. God put the LIGHT of eternal, infinite truth inside brittle people made of clay. “Cracked Pots,” one writer calls us. The more cracked the pot, the more light escapes. Clay is opaque, after all. No light escapes a solid clay pot. But the more broken the clay is, the more useful it becomes as a light source.

While searching online for a “terra cotta wall sconce” (a fancy way of saying a clay pot with a candle inside), I found the picture above. Clay is not see-through. But light can pass through holes in clay. Just as God’s light passes from you to others through the “holes” left in you by your suffering.

When you suffer, God will use you to light the way for everyone around you. God’s light shines brightest when it shines from inside a broken pot.

Dear God, give us courage and faith when we face trials, and remind us that we are the light of the world. We are available and willing—use us to help others find Christ.

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LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION. 2 Corinthians 3:1-3.

While teaching as an adjunct professor, I applied for a job as a full-time professor. I was required to provide letters of recommendation. I decided to ask two former students, both high achievers who loved my teaching, and had been admitted to the college’s graduate school after I wrote glowing letters on their behalf.

When it comes to teaching, a recommendation from a former student is arguably more meaningful than anything another teacher might say. After all, fellow teachers know me only as (I hope) a cheerful and helpful co-worker, whereas, my former students have actually seen me teach! To put it another way, my students are PROOF of my teaching—their lives are evidence of my work in the classroom. Their LIVES are letters of recommendation.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses these issues. He knows traveling teachers carry letters to prove their credentials. But he does not.

“Do we need, like some, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves ARE OUR LETTER, written on our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. It is clear that you ARE Christ’s letter, produced by us, not written with ink but with the Spirit of the living God—not on stone tablets, but on tablets that are hearts of flesh” 2 Corinthians 3:1-3.

What better evidence is there of a preacher’s ministry than changed lives? Who cares if your church has rockin’ music, great lighting, and fog machines? So what if you run 5,000 on a Sunday? If your Broadway-production-values are siphoning members from small churches in the area, then all you’ve done is injure vital small churches. Where is the value in that?

We must reach the UNCHURCHED. The gospel should SAVE SOULS. Your preaching should CHANGE LIVES, heal families, restore marriages, set the addicted free, and teach the weak and corrupt to live lives of power, integrity, and courage.

The evidence of our ministry should be changed lives. We should make a difference, one person at a time. Whose life can you touch for God’s Kingdom? Whose life is a letter that recommends your ministry?

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STINK, STANK, STUNK. 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Previously I described a co-worker who always smelled amazing. We now have another employee whose presence is equally noticeable, but the aroma not nearly so pleasant. He gives off a bad smell that is just medicinal enough to force everyone to tolerate it. If I walk up the stairs, I think “Oh, Mister Jenkins must be here today,” because the entire floor smells like he just walked by. I may NEVER see him. But I can smell him and it is overwhelming. I suspect it is advanced but painless tooth decay, and rather than go to the dentist, he just swishes Listerine around all day long.

What scent do you give off?

Is it a fragrant aroma or something else? The Bible says believers bring a fragrance into the room.

Is your aroma one of grace and peace and joy? Or is it judgment and anger, sugared-over with some churchy medicine?

“Their mouth is full of CURSING and bitterness” Romans 3:14.

Is your mouth full of cursing? Is that the fragrance you want to give off? Or do you speak words of hope and encouragement, of gratitude and joy?

“Thanks be to God, who always … uses us to spread the AROMA of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing AROMA of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Dear God, use us to spread the fragrance of Your beauty, joy, peace, and grace. May we be so filled with your light and love that people are drawn to us so that they can then find YOU. Fill us with JOY and GRATITUDE over all that You do for us every day.

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PERFUME: What Do You Smell Like? 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Do you wear cologne? Perfume? After shave? Do you know anyone who wears a LOT?

I once worked for a woman who wore so much perfume, I always knew when she was in the office. I knew if she passed my door. I knew if she stopped at the copier. And she didn’t smell bad. She just liked her perfume. And there was this aroma that followed her wherever she went. I liked it—it was a good smell.

What is your aroma??

Paul writes about your aroma as a Christian:

“Thanks be to God, who always … uses us to spread the AROMA of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing AROMA of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an AROMA that brings death; to the other, an AROMA that brings life” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16.

Paul is saying Christians, whether they know it or not, will sort of like the spiritual smell of you—they will be attracted to the grace and forgiveness and love that comes from you. Many lost people will also be drawn to you for that reason. But some lost people will dislike you because you give off a fragrance that makes them uncomfortable. Paul does not put it into words, but perhaps the aroma he describes communicates something like this: ‘there is a God, there are rules, and you have broken them.’ That is, the aroma of Christ may bother them because it reminds them of their need to repent.

The conclusion? The closer you get to Jesus, the more people can “smell Him” on you. That will draw MANY people to you, like flies to honey. But it will bother some people a great deal.

Has anyone ever hated you for no reason?

Maybe it’s Christ in you that they can’t tolerate. Don’t take it personally. Pray for them and be kind. Be a light. And keep on giving off the aroma of Christ. It is the best fragrance you can have! 

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COMFORT. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5.

Have you hurt so deeply nothing could mend it? Has grief, disappointment, or loneliness made you question everything? Have you failed so badly, you lost all hope? Have you wondered whether life was worth the trouble?

If not, thank God—and pray for compassion toward those who have. Young people may be tempted to dismiss those who face despair as “losers.” But remember: THEIR LIVES MAY BE SO MUCH HARDER THAN YOURS.

God allows extraordinary tragedy into some lives, using it to shape them. My mother lost both her parents as a child—and I have often thought about the way her loss bore fruit in me. Both she, I, and perhaps my entire family know Jesus better because of the way He used tragedy in her life.

Who suffers? Everyone. God makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, Matthew 5:45.

Even the Apostle Paul, a bold, courageous, hope-filled man if ever there was one, suffered terrible discouragement. Speaking of a trip to Asia, he writes:

“We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we despaired even of life” 2 Corinthians 1:8.

But God comforts. Paul describes God as:

“The Father of Mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ” 2 Corinthians 1:3-5.

Why do we suffer?

God does not give us all the answers. But one is in verse 3, above: “so that we may be able to comfort” others. We suffer, then God comforts us so we can comfort others. There are deep truths here:

  1. God HIMSELF will comfort you—and there are few things sweeter than those intimate moments when God gives you His shoulder to cry on.
  2. God invites us to join Him in His work, as we comfort the suffering.

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Be a Pipe, Not a Bucket. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

When God blesses, the blessings go THROUGH you to others. They don’t collect in a bucket.

Ask God to show you ways that you can be a blessing to others today.

We are blessed to be a blessing.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

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Why Do U.S. Churches Struggle to Appeal to Men? 1 Corinthians 16:13

Many say the church does not challenge men.

JESUS challenges men, no doubt. And the Bible challenges everyone.

But what do most churches ask from men? Come listen to meetings. Join a choir. Teach stories and crafts to children. Be a parking lot attendant. Go visit people in the hospital. 

These are not the kind of activities that speak to a man’s soul. Women, being more relational, seem to find church activities more appealing. But men struggle. I struggle sometimes and I grew up in it. 

When men are challenged deeply, they love it.

The American church faces few challenges. No one persecutes us. No one locks us up for having Bible studies. No one takes your Bible away. ALL these things are happening and have NEVER stopped happening around the world. But we don’t face those dangers in the United States. Yet. 

But we are challenged in a different way—we face the challenge of growing lazy in our faith. We stop reading the Bible, we consume hours of ungodly media every day, and soon our lives are just like the lives of the lost.

Staying ON FIRE for Jesus is a HUGE challenge in this cold world.

People love hot coffee, and iced coffee. But no one likes it in between. Remember what Jesus said to the church of Laodicea?

“You are neither hot, nor cold, but lukewarm. Therefore I will spit you out of my mouth” Revelation 3:16. 

Accept the challenge. Stay on fire for God. Ask Him (1) what that means, and (2) how to do it.

1 Corinthians 16:13 should appeal to men: “Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. ACT LIKE MEN. Be strong.” 

Paul may mean “Be a man when you are hauled off to prison and beaten, like I have been.” But he is also saying, “Act like men about guarding and growing your faith. Be alert to temptations—the devil wants to neutralize you, to make you weak and useless like the lost people around you. But don’t fall for it. Act like men. Say no. Choose to honor God. Staying true to God is challenge enough for anyone.

You may never face a whip or a cross for your faith—but you face overwhelming pressure to become LUKEWARM. Overcoming that slippery slope should be challenge enough for any man!

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THE LEAST OF THE APOSTLES. 1 Corinthians 15:9-10.

Who was the greatest apostle? And the least? The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is as close as the Bible gets to a HALL OF FAME, but it does not answer these questions.

Who wrote the most books in the Bible? Whose letters explained most of the deepest truths? Who traveled farthest in his missionary journeys? Who was never deceived by the “heresy of the Judaizers”—that is, though an EXPERT in the law, who never told believers to follow that law?

Which apostle probably suffered most for the gospel? Who was imprisoned, beaten with rods, flogged 39 times on five occasions, shipwrecked (three times), survived a stoning, was lost at sea, and more?

Paul.

And Paul calls himself the LEAST of the apostles. He reports that everyone else understood about Jesus before he did:

“Last of all, He appeared to me, as to one untimely born. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to even be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by God’s grace I am what I am” 1 Corinthians 15:9-10.

Paul is both the LEAST of the apostles and the GREATEST of the apostles (though he never calls himself that).

But here’s why: Paul persecuted Christians. And he never forgot that. He knew he was saved by grace. Saved from terrible sins. And that kept him humble and seems to have made him work harder than anyone else. The passage above continues: “His grace toward me was not ineffective, but I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was in me” vv.10-11.

There is a great secret here. God can use great regret and humility to produce great effort and incredible results. Could it be that the only thing keeping us from serving God the way Paul did is that we lack the humility that Paul had?

God, make us more aware of our failures apart from Christ and our desperate need for you. May we be humble enough to work as fiercely as Paul did.

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BOXING WITH DEATH. 1 Corinthians 15:52-57.

Boxing requires offense and defense. Boxers can protect themselves by keeping their hands in front of their face and body. But when you “put up your dukes” in defense, you can’t punch. You can also dance around the ring: if he can’t reach you, he can’t hurt you. But if you keep your distance, you’ll never be able to punch him either.

Defense alone does not win boxing matches. You have to move in close, drop the arms, and land a few punches—actually, you need to land a lot of punches. But moving in is a risk. You get punched when you lower your arms—but it is the only way to win. You will NOT win without opening yourself up to the blows of your opponent. This is true in other sports: the winning pass may be intercepted. The strikeout pitch may become the homerun. The three-point attempt may give the other team an easy rebound. But you have to take risks.

So it is with death. Eventually, all God’s people drop their arms and take the punch. Death looks like defeat—the believer’s body collapsing forever. But God punches back:

“The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised immortal, the broken body subject to decay will rise perfect and invulnerable. The mortal will be clothed with immortality. The defeat of Death will be swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? … Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Christ Jesus Our Lord!” 1 Corinthians 15:52-57.

Death is one of life’s greatest challenges, both for the dying and for the grieving. It can hurt physically and emotionally, and what could be more frightening? But death is that moment when a Christian lowers his defenses—and hits back with a knockout punch from Jesus, the One Who Conquered Death: “Death is SWALLOWED UP in victory. Death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting?”

God, give us the courage to face death, knowing it is the door to victory, and our moment to join You in Your Kingdom!

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Don’t Waste Your Time. 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Have you ever wasted an hour or a day? I don’t mean by being lazy (although that too is unfortunate). I mean have you ever worked hard on something, only to have to start over? I’ve lost a few days’ work to computer problems over the years. And we’ve all been through all sorts of experiences of wasted effort. It’s one of the most frustrating things especially when you did well, but your coworker or teammate blew it. That’s tough. And you’ll never get that lost time or lost energy back.

HOWEVER. If you are serving God, He will reward you for all that you do for Him—and all that you re-do! 

Paul writes that because the resurrection—OUR resurrection—is real, we will receive a full reward in Heaven:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always ABOUNDING in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord” 1 Corinthians 15:58.

Do you abound in the work of the Lord? After all, that’s the way to store up treasure in heaven. It’s an investment in your REAL future. (Start by tithing.)

I love how the Message puts it:

“Don’t hold back. THROW YOURSELVES into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.”

How can we throw ourselves into God’s work? Help with children at church? Set up chairs? Clean up? Or maybe God wants you to bless a roommate or classmate, coworker, or stranger.

Actually, I’d start with the Bible and prayer every day. Ask God to help you make a plan, then stick to it. Then He will show you other areas where you can serve Him. And He will bless you in heaven even for the reading and prayer: that’s where it all begins for His children—time with God. Everything else He has planned for you will be revealed as you spend more and more time with Him each day.

Dear God, show us how we can serve you. Show us where we can THROW OURSELVES into YOUR work. You made us, You know our gifts and talents: show us how and where we can serve you.

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