The Potter lovingly and carefully formed the pot. The pot was perfect. It was not made for great things, but was just right for what the Potter intended. He cultivated good and beautiful things in the pot. But the pot was not happy with what he was, and, seeking happiness, brought vile and corrupt things into the pot, often killing the beautiful things the Potter put there. The pot knew it was wrong to bring the vile and corrupt things in, but he did not trust the Potter to make him happy, so he continued to bring in the vile things. He got to trust in the vile and corrupt things to make him happy, even though he knew the Potter loved him. He was torn – wanting both the Potter and the vile things. Eventually the stress on the pot became too much for him, for he was not a strong pot, and the pot shattered. In his broken shards the pot tried to hold a little of the vile and corrupt things. He could not hold much in the shallow shards, but he persisted.
Now the Potter had a beautiful Bride he was preparing to wed. She lived in a dark land and occasionally would get an infection – a boil – that the Potter knew was ruining her perfection. So the Potter would reach down and take one of the broken shards, and after shaking off the vile and corrupt things it was holding the Potter would use its sharp edges to scrape the boil so as to open the infection to the air and the light. In this way he healed his Bride. The broken pot sees how much the Potter loves his Bride. It is a dirty and dishonorable job, and often the Bride resists when she sees the sharp edges of the shard coming. The pot shard causes pain. The Bride hates the broken pot, and rarely thanks the Potter for using it. Further, the pot knew the Bride could see what he really was, and would despise him all the more.
The Potter had many pots of all sorts available for His use. The pot knew that – even though broken into shards – it is an honor to be used in any way by the Potter. And yet, and yet he would still fill his shards with bits of the vile and corrupt things – all the while yearning for the Potter, too. The agony and stress of this caused him to shatter further. But even though he begged the Potter to discard him, the Potter would not. Occasionally the Potter would again pick up a shard, clean it, and use it to open infection.
The pot could not bear this, as he knew he would just put vile and corrupt things in the shard again, knowing it was wrong. He begged the Potter to crush him back into the dust from whence he came, but the Potter was silent. The pot, in terrible anguish, cries out, groaning and wailing, as words can not convey his thoughts or feelings. He prays for release – for oblivion – for it to be over. The Potter is silent. The pot cries. He knows the Potter knows best, but his terrible agony continues.
Continued => Part Two
Matthew 7
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 “Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
12 “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 “Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
16 “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?
17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 “Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?”
23 “And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
Matthew 19
25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
