Shaped For God's Purpose

Hey what's up Adam's Apples? Time to write another one of the blogs! Hope ya'll enjoy!

One of my favourite sayings is that we are perfectly imperfect. It acknowledges our imperfect being, but also honours the fact that God is the divine creator. God can be portrayed metaphorically by being called the potter. What does this mean? Just as the potter shapes his pottery, God is doing the same with us. God is fine tuning our edges and shaping us into who He wants us to become. However, with this illustration there is a hard truth that lies within. Chad Martin brings this to life in his article "God-as-potter, Creativity, and a Theology of Art-Making." On page 193 he talks about how potters will create many different styles of pots for certain purposes, each one better for its intended purposes. But, not all pots worked out exactly how they were made to be. This reminds me of Romans 3:23 which says that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The potter creates the pots, but if they do not turn out he has little to no use for them. Now, God is our potter who shapes us so He will make make all of His pots perfect right? Yes and no. Our sinful nature is what causes us to fall short, not the hands that are shaping us. God strives for us be righteous, but we are sinful by nature and truthfully we deserve to be one of the pots that gets thrown away. Luckily for us, God sent His son to die for us so we may one day live with Him again.

What about those who do not believe? Each person was created with a purpose just like the potter making his pots. It can be very easy to consider those who reject God to be 'lost causes' but that simply is not the case. Take music/art for example. Can it point you toward God if it is secular? Absolutely. I think it would be wrong to say that God cannot show himself through other means that are not 'holy'. Take the woman at the well for example. Jesus came and told her about the gospel, the living water so she may not grow thirsty ever again. Then Jesus says "Go and get your husband." The woman did not have a husband at the time, for she was sleeping with someone else and has five ex-husbands. This woman was likely what most would call an outcast to the gospel, and would have many derogatory terms addressed to her. Jesus still interacted with her, and showed her the truth about her in a caring way. It is important that we care for each other because like pottery, we can be fragile hearted people and can build up walls if mistreated.

In closing I would like to end with a quote from an article by Carly Gelsinger "When we shy away from “non-Christian” art thinking we are godlier for it, we are closing ourselves off to the depths and heights of the human experience God intends us to live. We are closing ourselves off to others."

That's all for now Adam's Apples!

Bibliography

Gelsinger, Carly. "Why Christians Should Engage 'Non-Christian' Art." Relevant Magazine, January 12, 2016. http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/why-christians-should-engage-non-christian-art

Martin, Chad R. "God-as-potter, creativity, and a theology of art-making." The Conrad Grebel Review30, no. 2 (2012): 188-206.