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David Harlen Brooks | Storyteller

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 

— 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

When we visit relatives in Ilocos Norte, a province in the northern Philippines, we pass a stretch of road lined with clay pots for sale. The jars are common, inexpensive, and fragile. Unremarkable, except for the sheer number of them.

Followers of Christ are like those clay jars. Ordinary. They raise their families, go to work, face inevitable decline and pass from this world—rarely noticed. Not a good advertising strategy, I’d think if I were God.

But cooking with clay pots give food a flavor that metal pots and pans don’t. Likewise, Christians bring flavor to a bland world when we love God and others, especially when it’s difficult.

But 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 reminds us that it’s not about us, “It’s all about God,” as Rick Warren in the Purpose Driven Life would say. Christ is the strength inside us that keeps us from cracking under pressure like a clay jar.

In our weakness, someone sees God’s strength; in our faithfulness, someone sees an example to follow; in our endurance against odds, someone finds the courage to put one foot ahead of the other—one more time. And God gets the glory due Him.

That’s God’s advertising strategy. Clay jars. Who would have thought!

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