Dealing With Earthen Vessels

Post Written by Bobby Petrocelli, Associate Pastor

My friend, Christ the treasure is in you. So, don't get frustrated when you see your “earthiness”. You will always be “earthen” as long as you are in your mortal body, but remember that Christ the treasure is in you.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. (2 Cor. 4:7 NKJV) (Read 2 Cor. 4:7-15 & Eph. 2:1-10)

An earthen vessel can be broken easily. The enemy tries to defeat us on many fronts, and these earthen vessels give Him a great deal of advantage. As humans, our fleshly appetites control us so easily. In the beginning, this is how the enemy of our souls got an upper hand. In the Garden, he went after a certain weakness in Eve, and then through Eve, he went after a weakness in Adam. In the wilderness, as recorded in chapter 4 in both Matthew and Luke, the devil tried to use the same tactics when he tempted Jesus. Jesus did not cave into the appetites of His flesh, but rather relied completely on the Holy Spirit by using the Word of God to overcome the tricks of the enemy.

As we consider earthen vessels:  What a wonderful comfort these verses are. Regardless of our particular circumstance, in whatever way we are afflicted or perplexed, we have the resurrected Christ living in us as God’s priceless treasure. We sense Him deeper than all of our anxieties, a pervading calm within us that is carrying us through whatever trial is buffeting us. This is part of the great mystery of how God does His work in us. When trials strike down our earthen vessel, we share a bit of Christ’s own death, but the glorious treasure within us is not dead. The Lord’s resurrected life has passed through death and is now manifesting His life in us!

I know I've been guilty. We all, at one time or another, have stood on our soapbox and proceeded to state our case about why we are the way we are. We feel like we are caught up in the endless cycle of the "I can't help it's" -- that is, until the Holy Spirit gently reminds us that we are (after all) a work in progress. Much like the highway flagman who alerts us to the "SLOW DOWN - PROCEED WITH CAUTION," our Helper will lead us to the exact scriptures that aid us in this changing process.

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